Liberty
by sorathecrow
Summary: Allan knew where he wanted to go in life-it was pretty much decided since he turned ten. But is he content with that? Theria spent most of her life as a rich collector's trophy, spending her days reading and sleeping, dreaming of going on an adventure with a real Trainer. Wanting for nothing, but not having what really matters most.
1. January 1st and 2nd

**AN:** The main thing to keep in mind here is that this draws on a lot of elements from different continuities-the games, the manga, the anime-but doesn't strictly adhere to any of them. Probably best to think of it as an alternate universe, but it will hopefully stand on its own.

January 1st Journal Entry

The move was today. It took five hours by moving van to get here. Five hours of sitting in the back of the moving van, specifically. On New Year's Day, too. Not exactly the most fun holiday ever, but what are you going to do, given the situation?

Littleroot Town. If I didn't mention in a previous entry (too lazy to check), that's where we're moving. Or, have moved. It's more of a village than a town, being a collection of several houses scattered within a couple miles of a Pokemon lab, where pretty much everyone in town works. The next biggest town is also the next closest, but that isn't saying much-Oldale to the north is only just big enough to sport a Pokemon Center. If you want any of the real comforts of a fully-fledged city, you have to traverse all the way to Petalburg, which is a good multiple-hour drive from here over the winding country roads.

Neither Mom nor I own a car, so that isn't really an option.

It is, at least, very pretty here. All I've heard from Mom today is her bustling around the house getting things put out just right, all the while "ooh"ing and "ah"ing about how pretty the countryside is. A thick forest stretches from Petalburg to here, but once you actually get to the town, it breaks up and turns into a gently rolling plain. The whole countryside here is mostly untended grassland, only occasionally patched by a farm here and there.

Overall, it's nice-quiet, really boring, but a nice change from how cold things were back at home with Norman. I feel like a weight is off my chest simply by not having to deal with the back and forth between those two. I can't quite work up the energy to be as ridiculously cheery about the whole process as Mom is, though. It all leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This journal is supposed to help me work all that stuff out, but thinking about it just makes that taste even stronger.

Well, now that I'm thinking about it, I might as well... You know, I never really took sides in the whole thing until now. It was their thing, and it never really concerned me, unfortunately. As time wore on, I honestly just got tired of it. The way I saw it, and still do, is that they're both stubborn fools who made mistakes and then would stick to their guns until the end, never budging. Mom as much as Norman. But that didn't justify what he did. So I guess that's why I ended up going with her instead of staying. Norman can take care of himself-it's all he's ever done anyway. But I felt I _had_ to go with Mom. I think I did it more out of a sense of responsibility as a member of the family than it was me thinking she was necessarily in the right.

This probably throws out any possibility of Norman helping if I ever do get a Pokemon of my own, but hey, when I missed the boat when I was ten on going on my own Pokemon adventure, I pretty much gave up on the League and serious Pokemon training anyway.

o-o-o

Had to stop writing for a little while there because Mom sent me off on a mission to introduce myself to the neighbors. Apparently she had a gift basket prepared beforehand and everything. I didn't realize you had to do that for the people living five-hundred yards away. I learned later it was a goodwill mission to her new boss's family, which made a lot more sense.

I was on my way out after a short conversation with the boss's wife, when their daughter came in. She was about my age, with brown hair covered with a pokeball print bandanna. Together with the pack slung over her shoulder and the red chick-like Pokemon at her heels, she was obviously a Trainer.

She immediately introduced herself by her first name only-May-which was a little disconcerting (is that how everyone does it out in the country?), but I went ahead and gave her mine in kind. Out of politeness, I mentioned how cute her Pokemon was, and that set off the floodgates of information. She called it Torchic, and that it was actually the first Pokemon she'd gotten when she started her Pokemon adventure, and that led to where she got it (from her Dad, Professor Birch-Mom's new boss and apparently the number one scientist at the lab), which finally led to her explaining that she was a researcher-in-training under her own father at the lab, where she hoped to work when she graduated high school. I asked her a little bit more about what kind of research she did, and she explained that she would often leave for weeks at a time on expeditions and errands for her Dad all across the Hoenn region.

She had some seriously infectious energy, but she reminded me a little bit too much of Norman in her devotion to Pokemon, which put me off a little. I know, I know, that's not even remotely fair to her-she seemed like a really fun girl, and I actually think we could be really good friends, if we have enough chances to talk when she isn't off hiking a Route somewhere. It was interesting to see someone with Pokemon who wasn't completely focused on the League Challenge, too. Although, since she was about my age-about 16 or 17-most kids would have given up on the Challenge on gone home long before they got that old anyway.

Most kids only managed to make it maybe a Route or so away from home before they threw in the towel. Some might beat a Gym. One. Even more would probably try, fail, and then wander through the region more as tourists than competitors. Some might run steady until they get tripped up at one particular Gym or another, and then find themselves studying there long-term, eventually being hired as Gym Trainers to help Leaders test the people who came through. Only the skilled or dedicated few make it through all eight Gyms, and only one or two trainers every decade or so make it past the Elite Four to become Champions. Basically, it's not just a kiddy obstacle course-it's a challenge that some people have to work their entire lives in the hope of besting. Which is surprising, considering most kids start their journeys at age ten... I think it's like a rite of adulthood or something-one of those rocks our culture decided you have to throw yourself against at least once.

That normal people have to, at least.

January 2nd Journal Entry

Mom started her job as an assistant at the lab today. Sounds like it's primarily data entry and secretarial work, but it apparently pays phenomenally well, between the piles of cash the Pokemon Association throws at anything research-related and the large number of functional products Professor Birch's lab has produced.

As for me, I went straight back to school today, and I still have studying to do for college entrance exams before bed this evening, so I'd better call it quits for today's journal entry. I didn't make it to at least a page this time, but oh well-today was just mindless studying anyway. If I want a chance at getting into the Psych-Forensics program at Toudai, I'll need every minute of study I can scrounge up!


	2. January 3rd

January 3rd Journal Entry

Today...man, where to start! A lot of stuff happened, to put it simply. It might be easiest to recount it all in a more narrative style than what I usually use, so I don't miss anything.

o-o-o

Morning found me still somewhat blearily munching on a piece of toast, groggy from a late-night study marathon. Mom was still scurrying around the kitchen, making a thermos of coffee for herself before sprinting for the door. "Late, late, late-I'm heading out!"

"Take-" I began, interrupted by the door slamming shut. "...care..." Mom had never been much of an early riser, so this new job's hours would probably take some getting used to.

For me, today would be more school and more cramming for entrance exams, like always. I had gone to a public school my whole life, but since this was my last year and we had moved so close to the end of the semester (and there isn't a school nearby), I decided to just finish up the last few months online. It was actually pretty nice, since it cut out all the walking to and from class, and I could spend more time studying for college exams.

I had settled down to work and been at it for a couple hours when I got a call from Mom.

"Hey, honey, I forgot my lunch in the fridge, could you bring it to me here at the lab, please? My break would be over by the time I got back if I got it myself."

It was nice to have a chance to get out and stretch my legs over the half a mile walk. The clean country air was a welcome change over the persistent smog of the big city. I figured I should take at least some time to appreciate it-once I graduated highschool I would be going straight back to the city, and college, so I'd have to deal with the smog for a long time to come.

After a few minutes of brisk walking, I got my first look at the Birch Pokemon Research Center. Or the back of it-the building faced south, with a few acres of fenced-in grassland where Pokemon were grazing. It was a slightly drab modern-style building that stood in contrast to the charming, if simple, cottages that dotted the landscape.

"Hey! Thanks for bringing it over, hon," Mom said, rising from her desk at the entrance to greet me as I came in.

"No prob," I said, taking the chance to glance over the interior of the lab. For being the leading Pokemon lab in the Hoenn region, it wasn't terribly exciting. It was a big, open concept office, with only a few chest-high partitions dividing off certain areas. Desks and shelves were placed willy-nilly throughout the building, except for one (mostly) clear path straight from the front entrance to the other side of the room. It didn't look quite as science-y as I expected, though. There weren't any half-finished experiments lying around or bubbling test-tubes or anything like that. There were some white boards with complicated-looking equations written on them, though, and lots of thick binders of stacked everywhere.

"I wanted an excuse to stretch my legs, anyway," I said, turning back to Mom.

Before I could get away, Mom was leading me around the office, introducing me to every scientist and aide there, from what I could tell.

"Aha! So you're Allan-I've already heard a great deal about you from you Mother," a middle-aged man with big, thick-cut glasses said. Mom gave his name and introduced him as Professor Birch's personal aide, but I've already forgotten his name. "So, you want to put your skills to work for the psychic criminal investigations unit, I hear? Noble, and indeed uncommon, aspirations! I understand that psychics are a very reclusive bunch, and mostly Cloyster (pardon the pun) up in places like that establishment of Sabrina's in Kanto."

"Hmm, yeah..." I mumbled something noncommittal back in response to that. Some people were still suspicious of psychics, and I heard these kinds of comments pretty frequently. It doesn't help that Japan in particular has a long, rich history of superstitions about them. One particularly long-running one dating back several thousand years holds that in ancient times, far enough back that humans were very different creatures than what they are now, and closer in a lot of respects, humans and Pokemon mating actually occurred quite often. Yeah, I try not to think about that too hard. Anyway, the product of these unions was a half-breed race with strange powers of the mind that neither species had before. After the war and the schism between humanity and Pokemon-kind (yet another old superstition), they were reviled as freaks and monsters by most, but many still found mates among other humans or Pokemon. Over time, Psychic humans had become visually indistinguishable from other humans and the Psychic type of Pokemon developed the wide variety we see today.

How do I know all this? "I actually spent a couple of years there when I was young to get my powers under control, but that's it." Despite the rumors, Sabrina's Gym isn't the cloistered place it used to be. It actually is a really bright and positive establishment, and it helped me quite a bit early on. I was sent there right before I turned ten and stayed several years, so I missed the chance to go on my Pokemon adventure like other kids my age were doing. I took missing it pretty hard, but Sabrina really helped me get through it. She had this cheerful, understanding personality and seemed to understand my frustrations better than I did myself. Whenever I started to get down about things, she would call out this Haunter that would make funny faces at me and tickle me until I burst out laughing as much as it was. They were a winning combination, and I think I had a small crush on her while I was there. I probably would have been happy to stay there and maybe even become a Gym Trainer eventually, but as soon as I was fixed my parents had me come back and get back into school.

"Probably for the best, my boy," the aide replied. "Ah, come to think of it, how would you like to put those powers of yours to the test in a job for me?"

"Uh, sure," I perked up a little at the prospect of a job, despite myself. Although a Psychic, to most people, was just a person who could reach that thing on the top shelf more easily, this might actually be an opportunity to really exercise my powers.

"The Professor often goes out for long excursions in the wilds to collect data, which is fine-his devotion to his research is what has made this laboratory so successful, but he, frankly, _needs_ to be here to sign off on some papers, and he hasn't even been back once since yesterday afternoon. I called his family, and he never came home last night either."

"That sounds...pretty serious, actually," I frowned slightly. "Sure you shouldn't just notify the police?"

"Ah, no. Honestly, that is normal behavior for him. He gets very absorbed in his work, and often loses track of time..."

"Oh, I see. Sure, I'd be happy to help!"

"Thank you very much-is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes, actually," I said. "First, obvious question: do you remember him mentioning anything about where he was going?"

"Uh, I believe he was doing some research north of Oldale Town, but that still leaves several mile's worth of a Route to check..."

"That's fine. That will at least help me tune in to him a little easier," I explained. "Next, does he have anything here that he associates strong emotions with?"

"Emotions?" The aide gave me a blank look.

"Yeah. Feelings, emotions-those are what I use to trace people. The more pronounced the better, too. Love, Lust, Greed, Anger, Obsession, Sadness-anything he associates with strong emotions like those are great."

"A-ah, I see..." The aide looked a little but put-off by my somewhat invasive methods, but he thought about it carefully nonetheless. As awkward as it was, in criminal tracking and investigations, my target's privacy would be my last concern. And it really was the main way I was able to track people-I latched onto emotions more easily than personalities, for whatever reason. "Well, as I said, he loves his research, perhaps his computer would have...what you need?"

The aide led me to the computer, but I couldn't get anything from it, so I inspected the rest of his desk. Trailing my hand lightly over various reports, through drawers, and other miscellanea on his desk, it finally came to rest on one small wallet-sized photo-framed and resting right beside his computer monitor. It was so humble I hadn't even noticed it earlier, but it was obvious now that I was focused on it. A fog of Pride hung over it so thick that I was surprised that the air itself wasn't shimmering. It was a photo of his daughter at about ten years old, cuddling a fuzzy red bird to her chest and grinning hugely towards the person behind the camera.

"Got it."

"You did? What did you find?" The aide asked.

"Ah-uhh, turned out it was his love for his family," I lied. Pride for your kid was hardly a scandalous thing, but I didn't want to go talking about a guy's actual vices behind his back.

"Of course! I should have known."

"Uh-huh, well, I'll just get out on the trail, then" I said, about to make for the door. "It'll be several hour walk just getting there, so if I wanna get back before nightfall I'd better-"

"Oh, wait! You don't have a Pokemon of your own, correct? It's dangerous to go out into the wild alone, so why don't you take one of our starter Pokemon? Just to be safe-consider it part of your payment for the job," the aide offered.

I glanced at Mom-her lips were pursed, but she didn't seem to be absolutely against it.

"You're old enough to make your own decisions-just be sure to keep your priorities straight, okay?"

The aide ignored the awkward air around us and bustled over to a Pokemon storage PC. "Excellent! As it happens, we currently have three: Torchic, Treeko, and Mudkip," the aide explained, bringing up pictures of each on a Pokedex screen.

I picked Mudkip, mostly on a whim. Since I've never paid a lot of attention to Pokemon battle stuff before, I can't say I had any real reasoning behind the choice.

The aide went on to give me what he said was part two of my payment-the very same Pokedex he had shown me the pictures on. That was surprising, because it was an advanced piece of hardware. With some recent advances by Devon Corp., on commission from the Pokemon Association-the governing body that administrates the Pokemon League, and nearly anything else Pokemon-related-it has gone from merely being a reference guide to Pokemon with some light statistical information to a fully-featured cell phone, GPS, and trainer handbook connected to a wiki that is constantly updated with Pokemon data from trainers and researchers around the world. I tried to insist that it wasn't necessary, but the aide insisted, admitting that the machine was actually specially calibrated to collect data from every battle and send it back to the lab, which aided the lab in its research, so the government provided them with as many as they needed. I made sure to thank him carefully before I took my leave-the pressure was definitely on now for me to get the job done.

When I made it to the edge of Littleroot Town, I reached down to the Pokeball newly clipped to my belt. Holding it at eye level, I slowly thumbed the single button on the orb. The top half of the ball popped open and a stream of brilliant white light poured out, materializing a small blue creature in its wake.

"Muuud..." The mudkip yawned, blinking its eyes against the bright midday sun.

"Hello there, little one," I said, dropping down to scratch it under its chin. It was a very fish-like animal, with a fin prominently on top of its head, but its body was rubbery instead of scaley and it had four distinct legs.

I was at a bit of a loss for what to say, but I could feel an almost child-like curiosity emanating from it. It was a little hard to believe that this little thing would be the one defending _me_ out there.

"I-I'm Allan, by the way. The guys at the lab want me to go find Professor Birch."

"'Kip!" Mudkip seemed to perk up at the mention of Birch, so it must at least partially understand me.

"So I'll need your help if any wild Pokemon appear along the way, okay?"

"Mudkip!" It replied in the affirmative. I think.

"Well, let's get going then, I guess!"

"'Kip!"

o-o-o

My first-ever Pokemon battle was on the road, with Oldale Town _just_ in sight. I was clueless on what to do, although Mudkip seemed to be on the ball, moving to a protective position between the other Pokemon and me.

Back at the lab, the aide had mentioned the Pokedex being able to help somehow with battles, so I took it out and pointed its camera at the opposing Pokemon.

**Poochyena, the Bite Pokemon,** the Pokedex recited in a metallic voice. **Poochyena is the pre-evolved form of Mightyena. Its biting strength is superior to other Pokemon of comparable size, and will pursue opponents until they collapse from exhaustion.**

"You're kidding-looks like we can't run from this one, Mudkip."

"'Kip!"

"Uh...so what do I do now?"

Mudkip face-faulted, while the Poochyena looked momentarily bewildered by our antics.

"Ding!" The Pokedex obligingly brought up a list of moves, accompanied by Mudkip's picture.

"Wow, this thing even has data on what moves you know, Mudkip!""

"'Kip-Mudkip!" Mudkip shouted back at me nervously. The Poochyena was slowly closing in on us, growling menacingly.

"Crap-uh, Mudkip! Tackle?"

Mudkip almost immediately flew at the dog like a coiled spring that was suddenly released. It was a direct hit-the sudden attack made the Bite Pokemon squeal in surprise and reel back, regarding Mudkip much more cautiously.

"Ha! That took it down a notch. guess its bark was worse than its bite! Uhg..." I mentally slapped myself for that one. "Let's try giving it a taste of its own medicine. Growl!"

Mudkip's growl was more cute than scary, sounding something like "Munyrrr," but it was enough to finally make the Poochyena decide to give up and scurry away, tail between its legs. I made a mental note that Growl would probably not be very useful on larger, stronger opponents.

Mudkip whirled around to look at me proudly, emanating simple joy.

"Good job, little guy. He was just a big coward after all, huh?"

"'Kip!"

I kept my face glued to the Pokedex as we passed through Oldale Town, studying up more on what Mudkip could do and what types of wild Pokemon were native to around Route 103, only stopping to get a free sample Potion from someone trying to promote the local PokeMart.

Making our way through the tall grass of Route 103, I stopped for a moment. This was where my abilities would come in handy. Taking a calming breath, I tuned out the clamoring of my worldly senses and focused on the weak, but steady string of Pride that connected the Photo to Professor Birch. It didn't take long to zero in on his direction. He was north and a little bit east, which, according the map on my Pokedex screen, would mean I would follow the path until it dead-ended beside a pond, and then I'd travel east across the north side of the pond.

Simple enough-I thanked God he wasn't any more off the beaten path, at least. The farther out we had to roam, the more dangerous varieties of Pokemon we might run into. We weren't walking for very long, however, when I literally stumbled over something. My foot smacked into something soft.

"Whoops, sorry Mudkip! I can hardly see you in this tall grass. Didn't mean to trip on you-"

"Muud?" Mudkip questioned, trotting up to me from somewhere to my right.

"Wait-if you're..." Kneeling down, I fished around in the tall grass until I found the soft object and hefted it up with both hands. I "eep"ed in a completely manly way when I saw what it was, dropping it reflexively.

"A Poochyena!" I gasped, moving a step back to study it at a distance. "Did a trainer knock it out or something? Wait, no... I didn't-I know I would have sensed it if it was _right there._.. Don't tell me it's..." I knelt down and cautiously put a hand on its side. "Damn it. It's not breathing."

Mudkip shuddered and warbled its cry mournfully. We humans might capture Pokemon and take a more dominant role over them, but they were far from normal dumb animals. Some would even call them fully sentient, which might be true, or not-I never really spent enough time around Pokemon personally to form my own opinion. However, killing them was cruel beyond reason.

"What kind of person would do this..." Under Pokemon League rules, killing wild Pokemon was a finable offense that must be reported, and killing a trainer's Pokemon was likely to get you sent to jail for assault, easily. For creatures that may or may not be sentient, that seems like a pretty weak punishment, but that's long been the stance of the Pokemon Association-the worldwide organization that oversees nearly all Pokemon-related activities.

"No avoiding it-come here boy..." I picked the pup up again, its head lolling noticeably as I did, and laid it down gently under a tree and out of the tall grass. "No signs of outward damage, but definitely a snapped neck... Damn, it hasn't been dead long, but I can't even sense any lingering stress or fear from it..." Which meant he was killed before he'd even realized what was happening. So, not only was it killed, it was killed without provocation?

Mudkip bumped up against my leg, whimpering piteously. I turned away from my inspection and picked up the small Pokemon. It had obviously had enough-I felt a wave of guilt for letting the little guy see all this.

"Sorry you had to deal with that, Mudkip..." I sighed. I bet whoever did this is long gone anyway. "Here, you can stay in your Pokeball and get some rest. I'll just call you out if any other wild Pokemon appear."

"Mud..." It mumbled wearily as it was recalled back into the ball. _That really shook the poor thing up,_ I thought to myself. Heck, it shook me up, too, but this was exactly the kind of thing I'd been studying to do, so I was at least a little bit more prepared.

I wasn't prepared, though, to see even more dead Pokemon as I went.

_Glad I put Mudkip away for this,_ I thought lamely. The Pokedex identified the others as a Taillow and a Lotad, bringing the total up to three. And that was just what I had run into myself-I was getting the feeling that there were probably more that I hadn't found, It was the same story with each one, too. None of them had any external damage, and I couldn't sense any major lingering emotions, which just didn't make sense. The most I could get from any of them was varying degrees of curiosity and then confusion.

However, as I drew nearer to where Professor Birch should have been, another emotion began to overwhelm the sense of Pride I was using as my trail-Fear. Unattached to anything, but raw and strong enough that even a weaker Psychic like myself could pick up on it. It was so strong it felt like a vice on my heart, and it made me stop in my tracks for a good long moment. As I practiced, trying to hone my skills over the years, I obviously had some experience picking up on other people's emotions. It was what had made me pick up on my parent's frustration with each other before they had even said anything so many years ago. But never in my life had I experienced something so strong, so immediate. Even second-hand as it was, it made me want to just turn around and run for my life. I knew, though, that this had to be the Professor, and he would be in serious trouble if I did do something.

"-ey man, maybe...you think we're goin' too far here?"

"Huh?"

Sure enough, I caught a couple of gruff voices coming from just twenty yards or so away, behind a few big trees. I don't know why on earth I kept walking forward at this point-idiocy? Bravery? But I did, at least, think to call out Mudkip before I got too close, so no one would hear the "release" noise the Pokeball made.

"Pickin' up this shiny was an awesome move. That old butler-guy didn't even know what hit him and bam! We were in and out without any trouble. But I'm just sayin', I don't know if I wanna start kidnapping _people_ now..."

"You better not be backing out on me," another man replied. I risked a peek around the tree to see that the two men were both wearing matching red outfits with a stylized depiction of a volcano on them. That emblem had been on the news more and more lately-Team Magma. Yet another extremist group using Pokemon to wreak havoc-unfortunately, not an unusual thing with groups like Team Rocket experiencing a couple of surges and declines in power over the last few decades. Not to mention Team Aqua, also based here in Hoenn.

I couldn't _see_ Professor Birch, but judging from my _other_ senses, he was right on the other side of the tree I was hiding behind.

_If I could just distract those two for a few minutes, maybe I could get the Professor and we could make a break for it..._ I thought to myself.

"No! I ain't goin' soft on you-I'm just _saying_... It's a big risk for just us two guys, breaking away from the Team, you know?"

"We been over this before," the angrier one said, pacing around their camp. "With the money we'll make off this shiny plus the ransom we'll get for the Professor here, we'll be set for life! We could go to Johto and set up our own organization, since that kid took care of Team Rocket a few years ago. Hell, between the both of us we could control _all_ of their old turf, from Kanto to Johto!" He was pacing around too much for me to feel comfortable jumping in. _They keep mentioning this "shiny"-what is that supposed to be?_

"That is, if they _let _us leave after they get the Professor ba-"

That comment made the angry one snap, kicking the other guy in the side and knocking him off the stump he was sitting on.

_Fighting in the ranks? _Even in the heat of the moment, I at least understood how utterly screwed I'd be if I tried to take on two hardened criminals head-on. What I did next was still beyond stupid and firmly in "suicidal" territory.

Whirling around the tree, I pointed at the man that was still holding his side on the ground. "Water gun!"

Mudkip obliged, unleashing a jet of water at the guy on the ground. He struggled against the flow for a second, almost getting to his feet, but slipped on a muddy patch of ground and smacked his head heard on the stump.

"What the fu-" The angry one was shocked for a moment, but he recovered fast.

"Follow it up, Mudkip! Water Gun!"

Mudkip fired another jet of water, but the man sidestepped behind a tree, the trunk and branches disrupting most of the attack. That's when I made my second major mistake, besides initiating the fight in the first place: I hesitated to see what he would do.

"Who the _hell_ are you, kid? You ain't the cops, and you sure as hell ain't a Ranger with a pipsqueak like that." I didn't reply-I couldn't. Hearing him talk made me lose my nerve. I looked to the side at Professor Birch-for the first time, come to think of it-trying to motion at me to run despite being bound and gagged. Any possibility of that happening was dashed by the characteristic sound of a Pokeball opening, and me dropping to my knees, holding my head in agony.

o-o-o

Okay, as I've mentioned before, I can sense emotions. I can only sense emotions because all creatures emit Psychic waves. A true Psychic is someone who can not only pick up on those waves, but also manipulate their own to affect the world. My powers only really extend to enhancing my senses and letting me track people. But it can go as far as letting you actually broadcast your emotions to other people, if you're exceptionally powerful. That's exactly what this Pokemon was doing, albeit probably unintentionally. That (and more spectacular effects like levitating dinnerware) was exactly what Psychic humans had to go through rigorous training to avoid. As it is, I'm especially sympathetic to emotions in particular, which might be why I was brought to my knees when this Pokemon came out. Never had I experienced such overwhelming fear, even surpassing that coming from Birch, only this time it was also accompanied by a new feeling. Guilt.

The Team Magma grunt finally came out from behind the tree, dragging a small Pokemon with him by the hair. I struggled to my feet, but only ended up falling back down to my knees again. My mind slowly caught up with what was going on in front of me.

"-damnit you, you're mine now and you will do as I say!" The grunt punctuated his last few words by shaking the Pokemon by her (somehow I automatically knew it was a she) hair. "Use Confusion!"

_N-_

"-No!"

_No!_

I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I'm sure I heard two voices shout "No" at the same time-one of them definitely sounding like my own.

"Forget it!" The Magma grunt shoved his blue and white Pokemon aside, and I caught the glint of steel being drawn from a sheath at his side. "Useless, spoiled little rich girl... I didn't want to get messy about it, but you two brats have forced my hand..."

When my eyes locked on that man's knife, I knew it. I knew I was going to die right there. I was still having trouble telling what my own emotions were, so I couldn't even work up the presence of mind to be frustrated at my inability to move-my mind just completely shut down, like a deer in the headlights. "Hel-help..." I managed, although I don't think it was even loud enough to be heard.

_No...nooo... I-I don't want anyone else to d-die! _A distinctly feminine voice said, although the Team Magma grunt didn't seem to notice. _Please-please stop! Stop! STOP!_

Just a step away, the Magma grunt froze mid-stride, letting out a strangled "-Grk!" The air just around him glowed a light blue tinge.

Sure enough, it appeared to be coming from the blue and white Pokemon the grunt had pushed aside moments ago. She wasn't finished, however. Light flooded the forest from an unknown light source as every shadow that had once occupied the forest swirled into a ball in front of her hand, crackling with purplish energy.

Time seemed to stand still, and I realized my mind felt a lot more clear. Beside me, Professor Birch was in a state of shock, while at some point Mudkip had outright fainted-probably just from stress, which made me feel a pang of what was truly my own guilt. I never should have put the little guy through all of this. In front of me, the Magma grunt was still locked in place, unable to move a muscle. His face was turning blue-I briefly wondered if he could even move his lungs like that.

_I'm sorry..._ The voice said. I turned to the Pokemon, still holding the Shadow Ball out in front of it, although it looked like her hand was shaking from the effort. _I did some bad...no, despicable things, but...I...I had no choice! I'm sorry... But...now I can stop him...I can end it all... If I just do it this one more time..._

_That won't make it better, _I responded in my mind, doing so coming surprisingly naturally.

She gasped out loud, apparently not expecting me to actually hear her.

"I've...already done something I regret too," I said, looking at Mudkip, who was still out cold beside me. "Let's not make it worse by adding another body to the pile."

The Pokemon paused for a moment, staring at her outstretched hand, and then heaved a pained breath, letting the Shadow Ball fade. As the shadows flooded away from her back into the forest, so too did her strength, and she collapsed. The Magma grunt collapsed too, out like a light from lack of oxygen, probably.

I heaved my own sigh of relief, exhaustion, and resignment to how much trouble I was going to be in when I got back.

o-o-o

"Do you have any IDEA how dangerous that was? You could have gotten killed!" Birch started ranting as soon as I removed his gag.

"I know, it was insane, I just had to do SOME-"

"I mean, thanks for saving me, of course, but GOOD LORD man, that was too close!" Birch showed no sign of stopping, so I sighed and turned back to Mudkip, who was finally awake again, but shivering like he was freezing.

When I reached to pick it up, it shied away for just an instant, but it still hurt. I had really pushed it too far, and now I'd probably ruined any chance I'd had at being friends with it. My first Pokemon. I picked it up and held it at eye level. "I'm so sorry I put you through that, Mudkip. I just kind of threw you into the situation with no warning, when you were still stressed out from before, too. You could have been hurt by those guys, but it didn't even occur to me. But you still did _very_ good, you know. Again, I'm sorry-I'll try not to ever put you in a situation like that again." I definitely didn't inherit my Dad's skill with Pokemon, it seems.

"Mudkip," it said forlornly. The range of emotions he broadcasted were far too complex for a cute, simple little creature like Mudkip to have to experience-fear, anger, guilt, relief, all jumbled around. I sighed and put him back in his Pokeball-he deserved a good, long, uninterrupted rest.

When I looked back, Professor Birch was watching us with a meditative look. "Well, it looks like you both have been through enough for today." He broke out a wry grin. "And so have I! Unwise or not, your heroism was really commendable. That was one of our starter Pokemon, right?"

"Yeah, if you want to take it back-"

"No, that's fine. I think you behaved recklessly, but you also owned up to it with your Pokemon. You made a mistake, but as long as you stay honest like that, your Pokemon will forgive you."

"I don't know about that..."

"Aaaand, the Pokemon's probably bonded to you by now anyway. It would be nearly impossible for it to readjust if we took it away now."

"You've gotta be-"

"Just do better next time!" Birch said, as if that was all it took. "Now! Let's look at this Shiny that thug was going on about!" And he was off on another tangent again. "Those distinctive horns-you there, young man what'syourname!"

"A-allan."

"Allan! Can you tell me what Pokemon this is?"

"Uhh, no, not much of a Pokemon guy, sir," I said, looking at the blue-white Pokemon. I hadn't really gotten a good look at her earlier. The Pokemon was small-it probably didn't even come up to my waist when standing. It actually appeared to be wearing clothes, which was odd for a Pokemon, but looking closer, it was hard to tell if they were actually clothes or actually a part of it somehow. Whatever they were, they resembled a ballerina's tutu. It also had a pair of grey-rimmed glasses on, of all things. A pair of red horns jutted out of its head as well, which were placed just right so as to make it look like they were hair pins holding up her hair in twin tails. A Pokemon expert would probably already know which Pokemon I'm talking about, but if you're like me, you'd probably think I'm making it up, it sounds so outlandish.

I pulled out my Pokedex and pointed the camera at the unconscious Pokemon so it could scan it.

"Ding!" **Kirlia-the Emotion Pokemon,** the slightly metallic male voice announced.

"That's cheating," Birch grumbled.

**Becomes more beautiful when its trainer is happy. The horns on its head amplify and focus its psychokinetic power. When using its power, mirages of otherworldly scenery can sometimes be seen in the air around it.** The Kirlia in the picture it brought up was green and white, though, with reddish horns, while this one was blue-white with red horns.

"Yes, yes, but can you tell me why its special?"

I don't know-it's just differently colored, right?" I asked, kneeling down beside the fainted Pokemon.

"No! Urg...well, yes, but that's not just it-that's just part of it. How much do you know about genetics?"

"Nothing, really," I said, unconsciously reaching out to stroke the girl's hair lightly.

"Well, put in veeery simple terms, this is a very, impossibly, miraculously rare beneficial mutation! If you see a Shiny, you're said to be a person blessed by the gods. The only other one discovered in my lifetime was a Shiny Gyarados, and that was created under special means..." Birch started rambling about the Gyarados, and how Shinies were not just colored differently, but also markedly more powerful than their normal counterparts, often possessing of mysterious powers, but I was starting to get impatient.

"Professor, I hate to interrupt, but shouldn't we get some medical help for, uh, Kirlia here? And call the police for these guys? You know, the ones who had you tied up not five minutes ago?" I deadpanned.

"Ah-you're right, of course. Tied up for over a day, and I still get distracted by the wonderful world of Pokemon all around me."

I rolled my eyes-Pokemon Professors were a different breed of humans... "Let's use your old ropes to tie these guys up in case they wake up before the police get here."

"Right!" Once we got that done, Birch picked up Kirlia's discarded Pokeball and tossed it to me. "I'll let you take care of Kirlia on the trip back."

"O-oh, okay," I said. In the end I opted to clip the ball to my belt and carry the small Pokemon in my arms. If I woke up after an affair like that, I wouldn't want to be in a small dark space going who knows where. Her body was a lot lighter than it looked-she must have only weighed a few pounds.

Birch chuckled a little bit. "Looks like you guys formed a little bit of a bond too back there, despite however long she was with those two goons."

"Does that mean the whole bond thing isn't as hard and fast a rule as you thought?"

"No," Birch said grimly. "It's virtually impossible for a Pokemon to disobey its master. That's why people who steal Pokemon are the lowest of the low. Not only does it rip them away from their bonded partners to bond with someone else, frequently causing irreparable psychological damage, they also force them to do such unspeakable acts to other members of their own species, as well as ours." Birch smiled and thumped me on the shoulder. "That's why its good, however it managed to happen, that you were able to bond with her somehow. If you hadn't, then she wouldn't have been able to disobey her orders, and we both would probably be dead right now! Although, I'd sell my left arm to know what the catalyst of it was. Pokemon don't just bond with other trainers like that."

I looked down self-consciously. He was a lot more perceptive than he seemed, given his somewhat goofy exterior. The Emotion Pokemon... I wondered to myself if my unusual affinity to emotions played a part in it, but I didn't voice my thoughts to him, so our conversation died as we made our way out of the forest.

The sun was setting as we passed through Oldale Town. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered about the whole thing with Kirlia. I'd never heard of someone using Telepathy to communicate with a Pokemon. Doing it with humans was already a pretty advanced skill-far beyond me and my limited skill set-but doing it with a Pokemon? Unheard of. I don't think even Sabrina and her Alakazam were able to do that. At least, they never mentioned it... I sighed tiredly-now I was just getting into wild Sudowoodo hunt territory, pointing at every epileptic tree that I thought was suspicious wouldn't get me anywhere.

I decided I'd try to do a little research for myself before I brought it to anyone else's attention, though.

o-o-o

By the time we got back to the lab, it was already quite late, so much so that Mom had already gone home, and the labs were mostly empty, except for a few night owls, the aide I'd met earlier being one of them.

"Professor! Allan! You're finally back! I beginning to think we'd have to send out yet another search party! Wait, is that a-"

"I'll tell you about what happened later-this is HUGE!" Birch whirled around and whisked Kirlia out of my arms. "Do you know what this IS?"

"A-a-a-a sh-s-" The aide was appropriately flabbergasted, I think.

"It's a SHINY! A once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Are you serious, sir? You didn't just spray paint a wild Pokemon blue or something like that last time, did you?" Not sure if I wanted to know the details of that one.

I shook my head resignedly-they were both in their own little world now, talking it over to a bed they had set up in a corner by some diagnostic screens. Hopefully they'd take a break from their fangirling and make sure she was okay, too. I set her Pokeball on the table next to them. As I turned back for the door, eager to get to get home and finally get some sleep, Birch shouted over: "Hey!" Something light hit me square on the back of the head. It was Kirlia's empty Pokeball. "Allan, thanks again for everything. You're a brave, if slightly stupid, young man." Couldn't really deny that last one. "We'll do a few medical diagnostics tonight to make sure she's okay, in addition to our own research. I imagine, though, all she really needs is a good night's rest. Take her Pokeball for now, and you can come back in tomorrow to pick her up once she's rested. Sound good?"

"Waaait a minute, you're talking like she belongs to me now or something."

"That's right! " He said. "Now, at least."

"He does?" The aide asked incredulously. "B-but our research..."

"But on one condition-which I will tell you in the morning. Now go!"

"B-but what about her previous owner-she was stolen!" I stammered incredulously as Birch came over and herded me put the door.

"In the morning, alll will be revealed!" He said with mock mysteriousness, slamming the door to the lab shut behind me without further ado.

So here I am, back home. Mom commented on how long it took, but I just dodged by saying that Birch was further out than we thought. It's about midnight now as I'm finishing this entry up and man, am I tired... Apparently, I have _another_ Pokemon now? In addition to Mudkip? Not exactly sure how I feel about that-I have college coming up, and I don't think I'll have the time to invest in taking care of all of them...

End Jan 3rd Journal Entry

I sighed and looked at the two Pokeballs sitting on my desk. In one, I could see the outline of a miniature version of my Mudkip through the semi-transparent material of the ball. The other was empty.

"Forget time, I'm not even qualified to handle one Pokemon, let alone two..." _After what I made Mudkip go through for my heroics..._

I picked up the Kirlia's ball, bouncing it in my hand. It looked like it was custom-made, with a blue, white, and red color scheme to match its inhabitant.

I sighed again and set it back on the desk. Shinies were apparently really rare and valuable creatures, and I imagined whoever owned her would be desperate to get her back, so I didn't understand why Birch seemed so keen on giving her to me of all people. I resolved to make sure Birch returned Kirlia to her rightful owner-she'd been through enough without having to deal with another strange person.


	3. January 4th

January 4th Journal Entry

Evening finds me sitting on a couch in the lounge of the Oldale Town Pokemon Center. Mudkip is on the table, munching on some Pokemon food Birch kindly provided me with, and Kirlia is sitting on the edge of the table, swinging her legs while her gaze excitedly darts over every little thing to see in the modest trainer stop. Obviously, my plans to talk some sense into Professor Birch were doomed from the start.

o-o Early this morning o-o

"Ah! Allan-perfect timing! As you can see, Kirlia is back in tip-top shape!"

The Pokemon in question padded silently over to me, a somewhat guarded expression on her bespectacled face. I looked down at her, and she gazed back, red eyes blinking languidly. I absentmindedly wondered what exactly was holding the glasses up, since she apparently didn't have ears, but I wrote it off as her Psychic powers holding them up.

"Aside from being slightly nearsighted, which she's obviously been dealing with for a while, she's in perfect health," Birch said. "You're all set to go!"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you some more about her previous owner," I said.

"Oh yeah, you were getting hung up on that last night-I totally forgot," Birch replied, flippant as always.

"I wasn't 'hung up' on it," I said exasperatedly. "Shouldn't you be more worried about the legitimate owner those Magma grunts stole her from? Whoever they are has to be worried sick."

"I would, if she actually _had_ a legitimate owner," Birch wagged a finger knowingly. "But she doesn't. And before you say it, yes, those Magma grunts did steal her, but not from anyone we can find in the Association databases. You see, I thought it was odd that a Shiny was discovered right under our noses here in Hoenn, and not one person in the Association knew about it. So, I double-checked the databases and, sure enough, she hasn't been registered. Since you had the ball with you, I wasn't able to check it, but I'm willing to bet that they used a custom ball that was rigged to not automatically register the capture with the Association, so no one would know about it. It's a shame-we could have gotten a lot of good data about Shinies, and how wild ones react to their environment, if we just could have talked to him-but I digress. This one has obviously been in captivity for a while, just from a precursory check-up."

_Hmph. I could have told you that much, _the Kirlia snorted, broadcasting her thoughts to me mentally, just like last night. I looked down at her numbly. Part of me had kind of been hoping that the voice voice I'd heard last night was just a hallucination.

_What's wrong? Is being able to communicate like this not exciting? Think of the possibilities! _The Kirlia said excitedly. _With Telepathy, you could communicate commands to me without the other trainer hearing what you say-it would be a major advantage!_

"Woah woah woah, wait a minute-I'm still getting used to this," I replied, stopping cold just after I said it when I realized what I'd casually revealed in front of the Professor.

"Hah! So you two can communicate somehow! Telepathy?" I slumped in defeat. "Bingo! Of course... So that was the catalyst that helped her overwhelm her bond to that thief! Very interesting-this is an unprecedented discovery indeed-"

"What...does this mean for me, then?" I asked warily.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to tie you down and dissect you, or something," Birch chuckled. "I'm a Pokemon researcher, and those aren't my kind of methods anyway. I would be careful who you show that little skill to though, because some of the Association's scientists wouldn't be so laid back about it. They wouldn't go so far as to dissect you either," he said when my face turned white, "but it would be pretty disruptive to your life. The Association likes to bottle up things they don't understand for study later, while I like to set them free and watch what happens."

"Wait...so you aren't going to tell them?" I asked.

"Not about that, at least. I will be sending our analysis of your battle data back to them, once you guys set out, but that's it."

"Wait. What do you mean, 'Once we set out?'" I asked slowly.

"Exactly what I said! I prefer to observe specimens in the wild-it's more indicative of real life. Separating a trainer and their Pokemon is hardly a good idea anyway-demoralizes both of them and skews the data. Kirlia's health, in particular, depends on being close to its trainer. So, if we need to research Kirlia, what better way than to send her off with her trainer on an adventure? Your Pokedex will send us back battle data, which will provide us with an absolute wealth of information, and you get to take a break from school!" Birch proclaimed like it was the best idea ever.

"So, since we bonded somehow in a freak accident, now I basically have no choice in the matter?" I gritted out.

"Hmmm, basically, but listen, this can be a great opportunity for you to-"

I was busy putting palm to face when Kirlia psychically piped frantically up below me. _W-wait, you mean you do not want me? B-but, I'm a Shiny-those are supposed to be valuable, right? I-I'll train really hard help you win a lot of battles, I promise! If you don't take_ _me, does that mean I'll be sent ba-_

"_Okay, Okay!_ Both of you, just stop for a second," I said. "I can't keep track of two conversations at once. Kirlia first. Why would you want to go with me on an adventure, and battle, for that matter, after everything you've been through these past few days? Were your previous owners that bad?"

"Kirl! K-Kirli-" _Ah-ahem. _She still seemed a little panicky, so it took her a moment to collect herself. _A-actually, you might say it was quite the opposite. Although it wasn't exactly ideal. They never did anything to me-I honestly only caught a glimpse of the person who kidnapped me-_I thought it was interesting that she defined it as kidnapping, instead of capturing, in this case-_for a moment, and then I awoke in a very stark white room with a single pedestal where my Pokeball sat, the only other person there being an older human in what I later learned was butler garb. He led me past a pair of guards into a spacious library room just a little bit smaller than this lab, that also had a small futon and other basic facilities in a small side-room. The doors to the room were huge, ancient wood, and they closed behind us silently. He told me that I had come into the possession of a wealthy collector, and that my every need would be provided for me. Like he was reciting from a script, he said that I'd have a life of luxury no other Pokemon would ever dream of. _

_I was young at the time, maybe two or three, and I'd only just evolved into a Kirlia, so I barely understood what he was saying. Obviously, I didn't know what to do with the books, either, but not long after I started living there, he began sitting down with me and teaching me how to read, saying that if I was going to be cooped up in a room for the rest of my life, I might as well know how to entertain myself. He explained that the original intent was to just leave me in my Pokeball, only to be brought out to be paraded around other collectors, but he convinced the master to get this library area rigged up for me. He went on to say that he had been assigned to be my caretaker, too. _

"Were you able to communicate with this butler like you can with me?" I asked.

Kirlia shook her head no. _He didn't have any Psychic talent. Once I learned how to read, I started communicating with him with a pencil and paper, however._

"I've gotta ask, why didn't you try to...you know..." _Try to take him hostage, or anything like that? Or at least try to run?_

Kirlia looked down at her hands thoughtfully. Her fingers were stubby compared to a human's. _I think...the idea occurred to me a couple years after I started living in that library. _

_A couple of years? _I asked incredulously.

A slightly troubled expression came over her. _I read a story about a human girl who had been trapped in a tower by an evil wizard, or something like that. It made me think that was kind-of like me-it was hard to remember what dancing in the flower fields with my friends was like. I started to think...I wanted to escape just like that girl did._

_Why didn't you?_

Her expression went from troubled to haunted. _I realized we Pokemon are a lot different from you humans. Running...I couldn't do that. What if master needed me tomorrow? What would I do on my own? Every time I thought I'd try teleporting outside-I could always do that, you know-my mind came up with another excuse. It's not that I didn't _want _to run, but I-I..._

_Couldn't..._ I finished. Pokemon really were alien creatures to us humans, I realized. We make friends and fight, get married and divorce, forge bonds and break them all the time, but Pokemon couldn't just do that. Come to think of it, that was probably why Pokemon like Mewtwo were so scary-an alien creature like that, that would turn against its masters?

A picture flashed in my mind of Kirlia ready to launch that Shadow Ball, making her flinch and look down in shame. _But they...they m-made me-_

I gently rested a hand between her hairpin-like horns. _I know. I can't even begin to imagine how hard that was for you._

_Hard for me?_ She slapped my hand off her head, still keeping it bowed so I couldn't see her eyes. _Hard FOR ME? There are four Pokemon that are already starting to decay in the road because of me! I almost killed a _human! _I wanted to have an adventure like the Pokemon in my stories! I didn't...want to...hurt...any-_

Kirlia's small shoulders heaved with long, shuddering sobs. I kneeled down, pulling her into a hug. She tried to push back for a second, but gave up pretty quickly. I sighed-between her and Mudkip, any thought that Pokemon were anything less than fully sentient was thrown right out the window. Right now I felt more like I was comforting a little girl than hugging an animal. She actually smelled like musty books.

I scolded myself for spacing out. _So, about that adventure... _

Kirlia looked up, still buried in in my hug. She blinked her still-teary eyes and sniffled a little.

I was powerless before those eyes. _You want to do the League Challenge, right? ...I'll help. I'm still a newbie when it comes to Pokemon, so we might not get very far, but if you still want to..._

_...Really? _She asked slowly.

_Yeah._ I said, already wondering what I just committed to.

"Kir! Kirlia!" The small pokemon exclaimed exuberantly. I couldn't help but smile back at the smile that broke out over her face.

"Huh. It's truly amazing seeing it in action," Birch said. I jumped. I'd totally forgotten we were still at the lab. "I obviously don't know what exactly you two were talking about, but it's clear you both will be a great team."

"Y-yeah..." I said, still reeling-trying to figure out how to salvage my college plans, but a stupid smile still plastered over my face.

"If you still have reservations, how about this," Birch offered. "I'll work with your college of choice to get your time as a trainer recognized as an elective credit. Knowing how to work with Pokemon, especially Psychic Pokemon, is an absolutely vital skill for a psychic criminal investigator. I'll even pull some strings and get you your high school diploma so you don't have to make up these last few months."

The Professor was literally offering me a guaranteed spot at one of the best colleges in the country, and letting me get out of high school a few months early. "C-can you do that?!"

"Allan, keep it in perspective. We have one of the most rare and valuable Pokemon on earth here-what could represent a huge step forward in genetic research. And YOU are her trainer. And I am the top scientist in the Hoenn region," Birch said matter-of-factly. "Strings like that are nothing for the Association."

"Wow." That cinched it. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. I was powerless to, between the adorable Pokemon smiling up at me happily, and the Professor's compelling logic (and the somewhat intimidating power of the Association).

Birch wasted no time getting me set up with everything I needed. Suspiciously, he'd already had a Trainer Card ready for me, along with a full set of Pokeballs and a potion to heal my Pokemon if they got injured.

Mom appeared a little bewildered by the whole thing when we came over to the desk and told her what we had decided on, but Birch was a good negotiator (and her boss)-he'd probably be able to smooth things over with her later.

And here we are-the Oldale Town Pokemon Center. I don't have any real plans now other than making my way to Rustboro City, where the "first," or lowest ranked, Gym Leader is supposed to be. I know Petalburg, and thus Norman, is just the next town over, but I know for a fact that his standard Gym match team is way beyond anything we'll be able to handle so early on. I have to say, I'm not that desperate to talk to him yet anyway. Maybe we can just slip through without-

End January 4th Journal Entry

_-llan. Allan? Are you going to keep your nose buried in that notebook all evening? There are so many sights and new sounds to experience! _Kirlia planted her tiny hands on the journal and craned her head to look up at me.

_Sorry about that-I was just making our travel plans for which Gyms we should tackle first. I was thinking Roxanne first? _I mentally replied-trainers normally spoke to their Pokemon, but they usually didn't hold actual conversations with them-that would probably seem a little bit weird to the people around us. Although this Pokemon Center in the middle of nowhere was pretty much empty, except for the staff.

_Are we not going to stop at the Petalburg Gym? It is the closest, right? _Kirlia let go of the journal and climbed over next to me on the couch.

_I figured it was a bit above our level right now. The Rustboro Gym is a little farther, but all the guides I can find say it's the best place for newbies like us to start._

_But, I'm already older and more experienced than the average Pokemon..._

_In book smarts, yeah, _I quipped. _But we have exactly zilch battle experience together. _

_That is true-we didn't run into anything on the way here, and before that, there was only the time with the Team Magma grunts. _Kirlia's face darkened.

_That doesn't count-this is a fresh start. A real adventure, _I said, patting her on the head.

I smiled down at her, and she returned it. _Uh-huh. Come to think of it, the adventure hasn't really started yet! Haven't you thought of a name for me yet?_

"Huh?" I said out loud. _I...wasn't really planning on it..._

_That won't do at all! _she said, crossing her arms in front of her like an "X." _A trainer must nickname their new Pokemon! It promotes team spirit and a close bond overall! Every guide says so~_

_Which guides were those, now? _I asked dryly.

_If you can't think of anything, I have a suggestion, _she carried on heedlessly.

A Pokemon naming itself? That's gotta be a first. _Okay, I'll bite-what is it?_

_Eleftheria!_

_Gesundheit._

_Dummy. It's Greek for "freedom."_

_I admit, it does sound pretty, but are you sure that's what you want? It's a bit of a mouthful to shout out in battle... _I said.

_Then call me 'Theria' for short. It means the same thing. But register it as Eleftheria._

"Heh-alright, then. If that's what you really want." Kirlia nodded vigorously. "Okay. Welcome to the team officially, Miss Eleftheria," I said with a mock formal bow from where I sat on the couch, offering her my hand. The newly minted "Eleftheria" put her small hand on mine and we shook on it.

_Perfect! _She said. _Now let's-_

"Allan! I was hoping I'd run into you on my way back!" A vaguely familiar voice exclaimed.

"Oh, hi May. On your way back from that project on Route 102?" I asked.

"Yep!" The brown haired girl chirped, hefting a large backpack. "After camping out the past couple nights, I thought I'd stay here tonight and...oh my gosh!" Printed words cannot describe the pitch of her squeal when she saw the Pokemon on the couch beside me. "Dad texted me to let me know what happened, but after the whole spraypaint incident-uh nevermind, you guys really found a Shiny Kirlia! It's. So. Adorable~ I just want to take it back home with me!"

_H-help, Allan! I'm being kidnapped again! _Theria cried from where she was being snuggle-suffocated against May's chest.

"Uh, May-I think she's still a little skittish around other people... Could you, you know-"

"Oh! Sorry, little one!" May exclaimed, setting Theria back down on the couch. "I just got a bit too excited when I saw you. You're just...so...special!" She had to visibly hold herself back from grabbing the little Pokemon again.

Theria dusted off her "dress" a little and tried to look aloof-while edging back towards me.

"Anyway, I thought you weren't into Pokemon training, but here you are, with two Pokemon, already off on a League challenge run," May commented, absently reaching out to pet Theria on the head, which she seemed to warily allow. "You just didn't seem like you were that interested in that kind of thing when we last talked."

"Yeah, I didn't know I was until today, honestly," I chuckled. "And trainers usually start on this kind of thing when they're a _lot _younger. I probably would have been fine never going on a journey, too, but well, Birch is a hard man to argue with."

"Oh man... I hope that Pokemaniac didn't force you into this..." May sighed.

"I wouldn't go that far. But he can be pretty convincing-and this one was pretty hard to refuse too. Against the two of them, I never stood a chance," Theria blew a raspberry at me.

_I know you're excited, deep down._

_I'm just a sucker for watery eyes, _I replied.

_I'll have to keep that in mind..._

_Oh boy._

Eleftheria and I shared a small chuckle.

"Hey-you guys were using Telepathy just now, right?" May whispered.

Damn it-I really had to work on being more subtle about that.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "Dad told me. Don't worry-I can keep a secret. We work for the Association, but we don't agree with all of their methods."

"Uh, okay..." I'll just have to take her word on that, I guess.

"It looks like Mudkip's doing good, too! Hey buddy!" May waved cheerily over to the Pokemon on the table. "Oh! Why don't we have a quick Pokemon battle? I could give you guys some pointers, too-if you want."

"Um, I don't know if-" looking down, I could tell Theria was really eager. "It looks like Theria's up for it, so sure."

"Theria?" May echoed.

"Short for Eleftheria-she really wanted that to be her nickname..."

"Haha, wait _she _picked it? You really are a special one, Elle!"

Theria grimaced at May's version of her nickname.

"What do you think about two Pokemon each, Allan?"

"I...want to give Mudkip a little bit more time to recover after yesterday," I said.

"Okay-I hear it was a pretty stressful experience for the little guy," May plucked a Pokeball off her belt and expanded it. "So! One on one! Let's see your Elle in action! Torchic, go!"

"Tor~" The tiny bird chirruped.

"Wait-we're not going to fight in here, are we?" I asked.

"Sure!"

"Nuh-uh-let's take it outside," I said, rolling my eyes. She was cut from the same cloth as her Dad. She had a one-track mind.

o-o-o

Outside, a cold evening breeze was curling through town, making the winter cold even sharper.

Theria and I were squared off on one side, with May and Torchic on the other a few yards away.

_You ready? We only got to run over your moves a little bit on the walk to town, so we'll be winging it._

_That's okay._ Theria replied. _I know the basics of how to implement them. We have to start somewhere, anyway._

"You guys ready, or what?" May called.

"Whenever you are!" I replied as I pointed the Pokedex at Torchic.

"Ding!" **Torchic! The Chick Pokemon. A fire burns inside, so it feels very warm to hug. It can launch fireballs that easily reach 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.**

"Hey! That's cheating! No reading up now, of all times!" May said.

"Haha-we were ready for you whenever...you were the one who waited for the Pokedex to stop..." _Watch out for Ember and Peck, Theria. Since it hasn't evolved yet, it shouldn't be too dangerous as long as you keep your distance._

"Well then!" May said. "Quick Attack into Low Kick!"

Torchic closed the distance between itself and Theria in a heartbeat, pitching backwards and sliding like a baseball player straight into her feet. She didn't even know what hit her-it didn't register for a moment for me, either. The next moment she was eating dirt with Torchic standing on her head.

_Wh-what just happened..._ Theria moaned.

"I-I don't even know..." I said.

"Good job, Torchic" May crowed, recalling her bird. She trotted over to Theria next, lifting her back on her feet and dusting her "dress" off. "You guys just made a classic mistake-but I don't think you'll be making it again after this," she grinned, handing Theria a kerchief to wipe her face on. "Don't judge a book by its cover-just because it's an earlier Stage, or a certain type, or size, doesn't mean it can't have a few tricks up its sleeve. My Torchic may not be at an advanced Stage, but I kept him that way for a reason-I'm not much of a battler, and I wanted to keep it cute-looking," she giggled. "But he's got quite a bit of experience under his belt, and he's learned a few little tricks here and there, like the one you just saw."

I kneeled down next to Theria and gently took the kerchief away from her, using it to get a few spots the Pokemon missed.

_Bleh, thanks..._ she said. She still sounded a little shell-shocked.

"Well, I think we can both say that was a lesson well learned," I chuckled. "There's something to be said for just coming out swinging-if we'd hit it with a Confusion, it might have turned the whole battle around."

"Maybe so," she said. "But the biggest thing to remember is not to underestimate your opponent."

"Of course," I said. "We've got a lot to learn, obviously..."

"You two'll get there! Just keep doing your best!" May cheered. "Welp-" Yawn. "-I think I'm gonna hit the hay. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight..."

"I think we will too," I said, as Theria simultaneously stifled a yawn. "G'night!"

"Night~"

Oldale Town Pokemon Center-Male Trainer Bunk Room

I slipped into some sweatpants and a t-shirt, when I got to the guys bunk room. There were about four bunk-beds there, and it was a fairly big room, but Kirlia, Mudkip, and I were the only ones there tonight. Oldale was a pretty sleepy place normally, so this particular Center probably didn't get a lot of overnight guests.

When I was finished changing, I turned to Kirlia, who was laying next to Mudkip, sprawled out on one of the lower bunks.

_So, ready to get some sleep?_ I asked.

_Yes... While the fight earlier was short, it still managed to make me quite sore..._

_Yeah, she really obliterated us, _I chuckled. _Let me just grab your ball out of my pack, and-_

_Wait! I thought I'd just sleep outside tonight like normal?_

_But...isn't it normal for Pokemon to sleep in their Pokeball? _I questioned.

_Well, _Kirlia looked sheepish, _for normal Pokemon, yes-generally. But for almost the whole time I was in captivity-most of my life-I was actually allowed to stay out. As I believed I mentioned, I had a normal human bed, although it was only a simple futon, used a normal human bathroom (that was somewhat difficult at times), AND ate normal human food-the finest, as I was told, _she said, sounding slightly proud. _So I'm not really used to doing...normal...Pokemon things like staying in the ball for long periods of time and such._

_Uh, couldn't you get used to it? How big of a stretch would it really be? _I asked. _And wait-is it healthy for you to eat human food?_

_We (Emotion Pokemon) are, despite our appearance, built quite similarly to you humans, _Theria explained. _Although our portions aren't anywhere near the size of yours, we still can eat fairly similar things. We _can _eat simple PokePellets as well, but I think they taste fairly disgusting. And, for the first question, it's not only because I'm not used to it... I-I'm...afraid..._

Theria paused, her eyes beginning to water. _The last time I had to be put in my Pokeball, the next thing I knew, I was in the possession of those two..._ She trailed off uncomfortably.

_Oh, I see..._ I said. _That's why you didn't want to go back in the Pokeball at all for the walk here either... Okay-if you want to sleep outside of it, I'm fine with that. I just wanted to understand why._

_Yay! _Theria cheered, tears completely gone. She was pulling out the crocodile tears already? I'm doomed. _Thanks, Allan, _she said seriously.

_Look,_ I said, leaning down to look her in the eye. _I'm no master trainer, but I'll do everything I can to make sure nothing like that happens to you again. If we keep training, I'm sure you'll become so strong that no mere grunts like those two will have the guts to try something like that again._

_But there's also the matter of my former owner, besides those Team Magma members... He sounds like he was pretty powerful, as humans go. Surely he won't be content to just let such a rare and valuable trophy out of his grasp..._

_Either way, this person won't be able to make any direct moves, or else the Association will be on him or her for hiding such a rare Pokemon from them. He might not want to risk it at all, considering that, _I said. I yawned widely and pulled back the bedspread, slipping in. _If you want, you can sleep here with me tonight,_ I said, patting one side of my pillow. _Looks like Mudkip's already made himself at home._ Mudkip was curled up into a tiny ball on the bed next to my pillow, already fast asleep.

_Oh-o-okay, I'll do that,_ Theria said, blushing slightly. She crawled under the covers and rested her head on the edge of my pillow.

Things were silent for a while, and I was already drifting to sleep when a very faint _Thank you_ drifted through the airwaves to me, accompanied by a small hand on my arm.


	4. January 5th

January 5th Journal Entry

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Elle!" May leaned down and swept the small Pokemon into a hug, to Theria's mental protests. "If you didn't have a trainer already, I'd take you home in a heartbeat! Oh well, at least I'll have the battle data that your Pokedex sends back to the lab to look over now and then."

After Theria finally pried herself out of May's grasp, we exchanged our farewells, May adding that we might even meet out in the field again, and went on our separate ways, May going south and the two of us going west, towards Petalburg.

It was in the tall grass of this particular Route that we learned one of the painful limitations of Psychic-type moves.

"Pooch! Poochyena!" The small black dog Pokemon growled at us, giving me a feeling of deja vu.

"Um...Theria, you used Confusion, right?" I asked.

_Um...I thought I did, but it just shook it off like it was nothing..._ Theria took a step back as the dog took a step forward. _Oh...dear. This one must be a Dark type-I think...it might be impervious to Psychic attacks..._

_What? Totally impervious?_ _I didn't realize that was possible! What can we do, then? You don't have any other attacks! _I said, starting to panic.

The dog scrunched down, as if preparing to lunge, and Theria whirled around towards me. _We run!_

Theria dashed past me without looking back, leaving me with the angry dog. I stared at it dumbfoundedly for a moment before chasing after her, the angry pup nipping at my heels.

_I thought you were going to protect me! Don't lead him towards me! Run the other way!_

_That didn't include dieing for you!_ I said as I caught up to her.

_Oh, come on! I'm sure he wouldn't kill you..._ Theria said as she kept running.

_Oh, sure! I'll stop running when you do! _That shut Theria up.

We ended up running about two thirds of the way through the Route before the pup finally decided to give up on us. Probably deciding cowardice wouldn't taste very good.

"Kir..." Theria sighed and collapsed against the trunk of a tree. _What an inauspicious beginning to our League careers, getting knocked down by a chicken and then chased across the countryside by a mutt that only has a type advantage. _

"Haha-haah...ha-" it was hard to laugh when you were gasping for breath yourself. _I knew they were common around here, but I didn't realize that any Pokemon could be strictly immune to an attack like that._

_Come to think of it... I think I did read something like that...somewhere...heh. _Theria sheepishly admitted.

I flipped open the Pokedex and brought up Poochyena's entry. Under its name, sure enough, there was an emblem for the "Dark" type, which linked to an article about the type's traits.

**Dark types are an enigmatic type. Scientists note that Pokemon with this designation show marked resistance to, or even completely negate, any Psychic waves it comes into contact with. Not coincidentally, the Dark type shares many traits with the oft referenced "Evil" type of traditional Japanese folklore. The Dark type name is actually derived from the Western equivalent of the legends, where anything of Darkness was considered unclean or evil.**

**Studies indicate Dark type Pokemon may exert a subtle influence on Dark Matter around them, making it difficult, or even impossible, for Psychic waves to pass through. This is theorized to be an involuntary effect, as no registered Dark types have displayed any measure of control over Dark Matter in extensive testing...**

I closed the Pokedex as it started to trail off into additional details.

Theria sighed forlornly. _What am I supposed to do if I can't even touch them?_

I patted Theria on the head. I wasn't sure if it would comfort her or annoy her, but she seemed to take it well.

_Don't worry too much about it. According to the 'dex, pretty soon you'll learn moves like Magical Leaf that are different types, and you won't be stuck in such a situation again._

Theria nodded. _Yeah, I suppose you're-_

"Heya trainer!" A kid with a full bug-catcher ensemble approached us-he had a hat with attached bug netting, baggy long-sleeved shirt and pants, and what appeared to be a telescoping pole with a Pokeball on the end of it instead of a net. "Ooh, you have a Kirlia? Those are tough to find around here! And it's a weird color, too! Wanna battle? I have some cool Pokemon, too!"

"Uh, well..." He certainly was an energetic one. I looked down at Theria, who was getting back on her feet.

_Okay! I need to redeem myself for my recent disgraces in battle anyway._

_I thought you were tired, _I said.

_Hah! I'll beat this one without lifting a finger! Don't you, of all people, start underestimating Psychics._

"Sure, we'll take you on," I told the boy, chuckling a little at Theria's energy.

"Awesome! I've been wanting to show off the new Pokemon I caught." The bug catcher grabbed a ball off his belt released a small bug-type.

"Ding!" **Wurmple: this Pokemon secretes poison out of the small horn on its head. It moves slowly even when it is in a hurry, making it easy for beginners to capture,** the Pokedex supplied helpfully.

"B-beginner?! This is one of the best bug type Pokemon EVER!" He asserted with childish bluster. "That stupid thing doesn't know anything!"

_Whoops, he's angry now. It can attack with Poison Sting long-range, so hit it hard with a Confusion before it get's the chance, _I told Theria.

_Got it,_ she replied. She blinked, and her eyes filled with the blue light that was synonymous with a Pokemon using its Psychic powers. I also noticed the space around her horns seemed to ripple and warp, almost like heat radiating off a road on a hot summer day. I thought for a moment that I could see faint images, like the Pokedex said, but it was hard to tell. The Wurmple was tinged in a bluish light similar to that in Theria's eyes, and then the Wurmple itself seemed to ripple as the space around it was distorted. The Wurmple collapsed unceremoniously, having fainted while it was still caught in the Psychic field.

"Wh-what?! I was beaten just like that?!" The bug catcher fell to his knees in shock. Sighing, he called back his Wurmple to its ball.

I tried to apologize, but the boy shook his head dejectedly. "No, it's okay-I'm actually a total newbie when it comes to Pokemon, so it's probably what I get for boasting. This is the first one I've even caught so far. Thanks for the battle, though! We'll train really hard, and find even more awesome bugs that'll kick your butt!"

"Hahaha-we'll see! Good luck," I said. At least he bounced back quickly.

_Did you see that?!_ Theria exclaimed, springing up to briefly meet me at eye level, matching the kid's boundless energy. "Ohohohohoho~" _We're back on track again! That's the true power of a Psychic type!_

_What was with that slightly evil-sounding laugh? _I deadpanned. _You did good, yeah, but you DO know he literally just caught that bug, right?_

_Hmph! I thought you of all people would be able to appreciate such a sublime display of Psychic talent! _The Kirlia puffed out her cheeks indignantly.

_Oh, yes-that little bug was no match for you,_ I laughed back at her.

We kept up our verbal (or mental) sparring until we came across another trainer. This one was a girl that appeared to be in her early teens, playing with a Skitty-basically a small, pink cat with a pin-cushion for a tail. By this point I'd pretty much given up all hope of meeting any trainers my age on the road. At least, in places like this. Pokemon journeys were usually something kids did when they turned ten, but I had been cooped up in Sabrina's Psychic Gym getting my powers under control at the time. As we got further along in the League Challenge, we'd undoubtedly start running into older-

Present Time

_I know!_ Theria said. She'd apparently been sitting on the top of the couch, peeking at what I was writing in my notebook.

"Gah!" I choked out, slamming the notebook shut self-consciously. It wasn't that there was anything in their I was actually ashamed of-it was just the principle of the matter.

Theria continued, unaffected by my little outburst. _I think every one of those kids were younger than me! _

_Don't peek on my journal-wait, what? How old _are _you?_

She "hmph"ed again-I was starting to get used to that somewhat exasperated sound. _That was a rude way to ask it. My species isn't actually that long-lived-although many people think the opposite, our lifespan is actually shorter than that of many other Pokemon. You see, not only do positive emotions enhance our beauty, we actually depend on them for our health. If we-Ralts, Kirlia, Gardevoir, any of us-aren't exposed to positive emotions on a regular basis, either through interactions with others in our species or humans, we age rapidly and usually are lucky if we make it to twenty. _

The mood in the Petalburg Pokemon Center got a lot heavier between us when she said that. Come to think of it, when we found her I had noticed she looked slightly haggard, and her hair didn't look as shiny and luscious as the Pokemon on the Pokedex screen.

_But, you don't really look old,_ I said.

_I already feel a lot better. But there were definitely times where I _felt _old. Have you ever felt totally rested, but your mind feels really slow, or 'tired?' We don't age like normal Pokemon, either, you see. Our bodies are so dependent on our Psychic powers to maintain them, after we reach a certain age, our minds just wear out and...shut down. _

"Uhg." _So then how-_

_-Old am I, really? _Theria finished sadly. _I'd say about sixteen or seventeen. I managed to glean some sympathy and a tiny bit of affection from the old butler who used to take care of me, but wasn't around nearly enough, and he wasn't even my master. That's why I didn't look completely drained when you rescued me. I-_

_That's enough, please,_ I said, scooping the little Pokemon up in a hug as much for my benefit as for her's. _So, now that you're with me, will you start to get better at all?_

_Yes,_ she confirmed warmly, wrapping spindly arms around me in return. _I already feel so much better. If I'm with you, I'm sure I'll get plenty of good emotions and be as youthful as the day I first became a Kirlia, no problem!_

_Good, _I said, gradually letting the Pokemon slip back out of the hug and sit beside me on the couch. Once I felt like the stress from hearing all that had finally settled down again, I got back to my writing.

Jan 5th Journal Entry Cont.

Same as the last fight, the Skitty didn't last long-one quick Confusion downed it without any trouble. This time our opponent really did burst into tears-you know, being a _thirteen-year old girl._ While I was busy trying to apologize for roughing up her cat, I made a mental note to tell Theria to cool it a little bit, which she caught right away through our mental link, since I made no effort to hide it. Obviously, we didn't want to go easy on our opponents, or we would be the ones eating dirt again like last night, but we do have to maintain a sense of sportsmanship, too.

_Of course! How could I be so thoughtless,_ she said, running over to the skitty and offering it a hand to help it up. "_Good game," as human competitors tend to say-I'm sorry if I was overly aggressive, I was just trying to do my best...Thanks, can you stand? ...Good! There you go!_

Apparently I couldn't catch what the Skitty was saying on the other end of the conversation through our link, but they seemed to be getting along fine, at least. The girl noticed it, too. "It looks like Nyanners is okay after all... Your Kirlia doesn't seem that mean either. Sniff, hic, sorry-I always cry when I lose a battle..."

I assured her that she was just fine, and hurried along with Theria in tow before anyone came along and got any ideas.

We ran into one last trainer, just on the outskirts of Petalburg. He led out with a Zigzagoon, and it even managed to get the first hit in with a Quick Attack, but it barely fazed Theria, who pinned it to the ground with Confusion.

_Good job, _I said, _you took that one down without even needing to hurt it._

_Thanks, _Theria smiled proudly. _Confusion is a very versatile move-it not only can deal damage, it can also be used to lift, push, or immobilize weaker foes. Or, at least, so all the books said-I hadn't ever really used it much before those guys-_her expression darkened for a moment, but she shook it off-_I mean, before today._

_Isn't that just the same as Telekinesis, though? _I asked.

_Not exactly, _she replied. _Telekinesis is simply moving _objects_. Confusion is the act of manipulating actual living creatures, which is a lot more difficult due to the fact that they all have Psychic signatures that interfere with our abilities-even if they don't necessarily have the Talent. I believe that is why Confusion usually just looks like waves of energy rippling over the target: merely buffeting a target is a lot easier than using finesse. It also requires a decent amount of raw power, which explains why you probably never see Psychic humans use their powers on other humans or Pokemon. The ones who can effectively would be legendary among their peers._

_Like Sabrina? _I asked.

_Yes! Have you heard of her? I've read so many books detailing her paranormal adventures! Although I was never sure of their...veracity..._

_Well, I don't know what you read in your books about her..._ I chuckled, _...but she is definitely strong. I studied at her Gym for a couple of years to get my own powers under control._

_You DID?! _Theria gasped, eyes approaching saucer width. Fangirl mode activated. _Did her powers literally manifest to form an alter ego that created a closed space that influenced everything down to the body composition of those trainers that entered her gym? Did she- _

_Woah! Slow down! _I laughed, waving at her to stop. _That...is pretty much what happened, but that was a _long _time ago-about fifteen years or so, I'd say. That was back when Psychics were a lot more stigmatized by the public due to the mysterious nature of their powers. They were feared and shunned, and they responded in kind by forming a reclusive group with Sabrina at the center. It was the very same trio that fell into that trap you mentioned that managed to get her to open up to the world again. She's been a key figure in the Japanese Psychic community's efforts to ease tensions between Psychics and normal people._

_Wow, I didn't realize... _Theria looked thoughtful as we continued our walk into town. _So if she's doing that...does that mean that she _isn't _a secret agent for the Pokemon League that takes down Psychic supervillains all the while running her Gym in Kanto? _

_Uhh I don't think- _Looking down beside me I saw that Theria looked utterly serious about it-her little face frozen in worried anticipation that her Psychic idol might not be quite the superhero the paperback novels apparently claimed she was. _Well, you never know..._ I allowed cautiously.

_Right! Maybe the Gym and the community stuff is just a front for her REAL work! Fighting dastardly villains with her mighty powers..._

I simply nodded in agreement, trying my best not to let a snicker escape. She was surprisingly naive-probably a result of only being able to learn about the world outside through second-hand sources.

_Well, here's the Petalburg Pokemon Center-it's only late afternoon, but why don't we call it a early day and take this opportunity to rest in a real bed, since we aren't going to be able to make it to Rustboro today anyway, _I said, gesturing towards the large red-roofed building we had stopped in front of.

_No way! The sun hasn't even started to set! _Theria exclaimed. _And don't tell me you really want to leave here without visiting the gym first? _

_I just..figured since he was the fifth Gym Leader here in Hoenn that he might be a bit out of our league right now, _I deadpanned.

_Nevertheless, it would be a wasted opportunity to just pass right through without at least getting some fighting tips from him or something right? _Theria crossed her arms and shook her head smugly. _Honestly, you really do have quite a ways to go as a Trainer, Allan. Not even discussing your plans with your own teammates? _

_Oh, I'm perfectly fine with discussing them, _I said magnanimously.

_Oh, really? Then: I want to go to the Petalburg Gym and meet Norman! _She said, smiling sweetly.

_Denied, _I said flatly.

_So I had the wrong impression of you after all! You're actually a cruel dictator! _Theria retorted, crying big crocodile tears.

The tears were a low blow. Now I felt like a I monster. And probably looked like one to everyone walking by on the street. I reached out a hand to pat her on the head. _Aw, come on Theria, don't cry... I just-_

_Then let's go to the Gym! _Theria grabbed my outstretched hand and dragged me with surprising Psychic-augmented force as she skipped towards the general direction of the Gym. I knew I was stuck now, and there was no getting out of it. I tried desperately to think of any excuse I could to get her to break off her single-minded course towards the Gym, but I came up blank.

She dragged me all the way up to the Gym, and past the sliding glass doors.

"Welcome to the Petalburg Gym!" Improbably, Norman seemed to be waiting for us, greeting us as soon as we came in. "Oh, Allan, what a surprise."

"Hey...Dad. You the doorman now?"

"K-KIRRR?" _E-ehhh? _Theria made her surprise clear both out loud and via telepathy.

"Hah! And with a Pokemon in tow? Or should I say in the tow of a Pokemon?" Norman laughed. "Who's this special little one?"

I coughed-I sincerely didn't expect I'd be showing Dad a Pokemon of my own. I felt like I was betraying all my childhood oaths here, but I went ahead with introductions.

"Norman, this is my new friend Eleftheria," I said, gesturing stiffly down to the still bewildered Kirlia holding onto my hand. "Theria; Norman: 'The Man in Pursuit of Power,' and my father, if you hadn't already gathered."

Theria punched my knee with her unaided strength, which wasn't that hard, but it still stung. _You dummy! Why didn't you tell me he was your father! Doesn't that seem like a _mildly _important detail?_

"Ouch!" _We were a liittle busy the last few days, you know. _

_Yes. But he's your father! _

Theria wasn't letting up on me-I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Hahah, trouble in paradise already Allan?" Norman said. "I always told you strength of will is key in training Pokemon-you can't let them walk over you. They'll appreciate you for it later. The Association has handed you a big opportunity to work with a Shiny like this so you shouldn't fritter it away."

"I know, Norman-you wanna try working with her when she's like this? She could probably mind flay you or something if you pushed her far enough."

_Oooh! So you're just going to ignore me? _The tiny Pokemon stamped its foot stub on the ground, pouting adorably.

"Nonsense-it's all about how you-"

The doors behind me slid open with a "Woosh"-ing sound, and somebody thumped softly against my back.

"Oh-s'cuse me..." It was a boy several years younger than me-probably about fifteen-with green hair and a somewhat frail build. "I'd like to get a Pokemon...please..." He told the floor between our feet.

"No, excuse me. You probably want to talk to this guy right over here. Sorry for standing right in the doorway," I said stepping out of the way and dragging Theria with me. _Maybe I can use this as an excuse to Psyduck out, _I thought, making Theria groan.

"Oh there you are. Wally, right?" Norman asked, and the boy nodded. "Your parents called ahead and told me you wanted your own Pokemon. I was going to just give you one of my Zigzagoons, but I just came up with a better idea. It's best if you catch a Pokemon with your own two hands, and since I have things to do here, I'm sure my son Allan here would be happy to give you some pointers. Why don't you head out into the Route to the east of town and see if you run across anything?"

I failed to resist the urge to facepalm. I dropped my hand from my face and smiled broadly for the other boy's benefit. I'm not sure if it was very convincing or not. "Sure, Dad! I'd be happy to! C'mon-let's go hit the road!"

Theria smiled her winning broad smile up at him and that _definitely _seemed to lighten his mood. Theria took his hand and looked back at me smugly, blowing a mental raspberry at me. Now that was a true display of psychic skill.

As we walked through town, I asked Wally a little bit about himself.

"Well, I've had health problems since I was a kid-asthma, extreme allergies, that kinda stuff-so I wasn't ever able to go out on an adventure with all my friends when I was younger. I'm only allowed to get a Pokemon and wander out this far now because of a new treatment they've started me on to make my reactions less extreme," Wally explained blandly. "Then they're shipping me off to Verdanturf to stay with family, because they think the clean air might help my recovery."

"I see...I'm glad you finally get this opportunity, then!" I said honestly. What else do you say to a story like that?

"Thanks!" He said, a smile breaking his grim demeanor. "I really do appreciate you helping me with this," he looked down at the Pokeball in his hand that Norman gave him, frowning again. "I know you probably have things you'd rather be doing than babysitting a random kid..."

"Kir! Kirlia. Kirlilia!" Theria chirped out loud. _Fear not, Wally! My trainer and I will get you your own Pokemon in no time. To not be able to go on your own adventure is a crime against all that is good, but you should at least be able to have a friend of your own!_

Obviously none of that got through to Wally, although he did look down when he heard the long stream of impassioned Poke-speak.

"I think she's trying to tell you not to worry about it. We're both happy to help," I said reassuringly.

"Can you understand Pokemon language?" At first I thought the grim boy was being sarcastic about my little translation, but his face was filled with a naive wonder. It reminded me a lot of the expression on Theria's face earlier, making me wonder just how similar these two were. How many long summer afternoons was he stuck inside reading books while having to push aside the thought of his friends being out having adventures in the wide world?

I pushed aside the thoughts and answered back before the silence drew on too long. "Well, I don't understand their language, but I'm a Psychic, so I can actually use Telepathy to talk to certain Pokemon like Theria." This wasn't something I normally wanted to brag about-even Birch, and by extension the Association, was unaware of my Psychic link to Kirlia, and I hadn't ever heard of a Psychic being able to hold an actual mental conversation with a Pokemon. If it got back to them, it might bring both Theria and I into greater scrutiny by the Association as potential research subjects, and that would ruin both our plans for the League Challenge and my career as a criminal investigator. The Association ran a notoriously tight shift over anything related to Pokemon and competitive battling in general, and any aberrations in their finely tuned system were swiftly addressed...one way or the other.

Wally "ooh"ed appreciatively. "So you can actually talk to Pokemon? Amazing!"

_Show-off, _Theria chuckled.

"Well, just to Theria, really," I clarified. "But it's kind-of a secret, so can you keep it between us?"

"Absolutely! So...um-could you tell her I said...um, 'Hi?'" Wally said in awe.

"Kirlia," Theria responded. _Hello to you too._

"She can already understand what you're saying," I said. "So just ask her whatever you want!"

"Oh-okay! Uh, so...what's it like being a Pokemon?"

_That's kind of a far-reaching question._

"That's kind of a far-reaching question..." We both said wryly.

"Hahaha, you both had exactly the same expression there!" Wally laughed. "Sorry, sorry, now that I have the opportunity, I can't think of anything to ask..."

_Hey, Allan, since you got to share sensitive information with a random stranger, now I will too! Be my translator. _

"Are you sure you really want to?"

Nod nod.

Wally looked at me questioningly. "Well," I began. Theria forged right ahead into a brief overview of her captivity and why exactly we were traveling together now. She left a lot of the more grim details out about what exactly the Magma grunts had made her do to her fellow Pokemon, but it still made for a pretty grim story up to the end. "...and so now I'm travelling with Allan to conquer the Pokemon League, just as the heroes in my books!" We had made it to the edge of town several minutes ago by now, but we'd spent most of our time lost in conversation.

"Wow, that's so amazing," Wally said. "You guys have already been through so much together, huh? Hey, and if you were able to start so late as a trainer, Allan, maybe it'll be okay for me, too, right?"

_Although I'm not sure how far we're going to get._

_I find your lack of faith disturbing, Allan._

"But...are you sure it was okay for you guys to tell me all this?" Wally ventured uncomfortably.

"Yeah-" I began.

Theria nodded. "_I consider you a friend-and that's what friends do, is it not? Share secrets with each other_?" I relayed what Theria said and followed up on it. "You were frank about yourself, so obviously we want to be frank with you. Theria was cooped up by herself for a long time, too, but look at where she is now. I can relate to feeling isolated, too, although it wasn't nearly as bad. We just want you to know that that you'll never be alone in the world-there'll always be someone out there who can empathize. Just keep trying your best and reaching out, and things'll get better."

_Aww, you sounded strangely cool there for a second, Allan!_ Theria giggled, lightly tapping my knee with her fist.

_Hush, you, _I told her with mock severity.

"Thanks...guys..." Wally said shyly. "Sorry again for being such a downer earlier. I'm not always like that, seriously. The move just put me in a bad mood."

"I can definitely relate to inconvenient moves, but in my case it got interesting pretty quickly," I said, smiling slightly as I looked down at Theria. "Who knows, maybe yours'll go the same way?"

"That would be awesome," Wally said.

_How much longer are you two chatty cathies going to stand there shooting the breeze, anyway? I'm sensing a Pokemon nearby! _Theria exclaimed.

_Hey, you were right there with us the whole time, _I countered, relaying the conversation to Wally. We both laughed, but Theria made a shushing sound.

_Hey! I think it's actually a Ralts! This will be perfect! I'll go take it down-be ready with a Pokeball. _Theria blinked out of existence using Teleport.

"Sounds like she's sensing a Ralts-it looks like she's already heading out to knock it out," I told Wally.

"Wow, just like that? Wow...I'm about to get a Pokemon of my very own... And Ralts is from the same line as your Kirlia, right? It'll be just like you guys! I hope I don't screw it up..." He said, looking down to the red and white ball in his hands. He appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilating again.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "This'll be easy, Wally. All you have to do is toss the ball, and it'll be done."

Theria appeared again with a "fssh," a comatose Ralts draped over her shoulder. _Hohoho, it went down with hardly a fight! _

_There's that evil laugh again, Theria. Don't you feel bad for helping to capture one of your own? _I prodded her.

_But this is for Wally! I know he'll take care of this one just fine. Does it feel a little weird? Yeah, I guess. But this is normal business for Pokemon, right? This is the beginning of a wonderful story of friendship and teamwork for both of them for years to come!_

_Sounds a little idealistic, but I don't disagree, _I said. "Are you ready, Wally?" Theria carried the Ralts over to him. "You don't even need to throw it. Just touch the button on the Pokeball against it, and it's yours."

"O-okay," Wally said. Theria set the Ralts on the ground in front of him. With only a moment's hesitation, he expanded the ball and touched it to the unconscious Pokemon's forehead, making the creature disappear in a burst of light. The light on the button flashed for a few moments, but it was more of a formality than anything-the Ralts had been totally knocked-out when it went in, so it surely wasn't putting up any resistance. The light finally stopped blinking and the ball made a soft clicking noise, to Wally's sigh of relief.

"Kir-Kirlia!"

"You did it!" Theria and I exclaimed.

"T-thank you guys...so much!" Wally sniffed. "I promise I'll take really good care of it! We'll be best friends just like you two are. And someday we'll go on our own adventure!"

We walked back to the Gym together quietly, most of the time spent with him in an overwhelmed silence. He refused to clip the ball on his belt, preferring instead to keep it cradled in his hands like a precious treasure.

When we got there, his Mom was waiting with Norman, prepared with a lecture about how long he was out, and that he missed the train, and that he should have called, and that his Auntie and Uncle in Verdanturf were probably worried sick wondering why he didn't disembark, all of which died in her throat pretty quickly when she saw her son's blissful expression as he proudly showed her the red and white ball in his hands. We traded short, but heartfelt, goodbyes, and then he was trotting down the road beside his Mom, telling her about his new Pokemon and all the things they'd soon be doing together.

Theria put a hand on the hem of my pant leg, and we spent a moment just radiating a feeling of warmth back and forth. Then I remembered Norman was still there and I cooled down a little bit.

"So, your first stop is going to be the Rustboro Gym, right? Your Kirlia probably has a bit more power than your average newbie's Pokemon at this point in the game, so you could probably power right through, but it might be a good idea to take a while there and pick up some strategy advice. Roxanne, the Leader there as you know, has a good head for strategy, for her age." That's Norman for you. His business is Pokemon, and he's all business, all the time.

"Y-yeah, we were really just going to play it by ear when we got there..." I said.

"You know you aren't going to get very far if you don't have a pla-"

"I know! I know," I interrupted. "It's getting late, so we're going to head back to the Pokemon Center and get some rest. See you later." I swept Theria up and set her on my shoulders.

_Woah!_

"You can stay over at my place, you know!" Norman offered.

"Thanks," I said, not looking back, "but I think we'll be fine. G'night."

I heard Norman sigh exasperatedly as we walked off.

Back at the Pokemon Center we got to finally wash off all the dust and dirt from the road and have another modest little meal. The Petalburg Center was a lot more busy than the one in Oldale Town, but instead of socializing with the other trainers, I decided to find a quiet spot where I could do my journal entry for the day. Theria had a dish with some Poke-Pellets that she picked at unenthusiastically.

_Are you okay? _She asked, while poking at her food.

_As you could probably see, I don't get along too well with my Dad-with Norman, _I said. _So I'm just trying to cool down._

_I'm sorry, _Theria said. _When you didn't want to go, I thought you were just being difficult. But I forced you into such an awkward situation..._

_It's okay. I would have had to talk to him at some point, if we were serious about this League thing. When I was growing up, he was always a big professional Trainer, and when the Association gave him the opportunity to have his own Gym, he jumped on it. Mom didn't really like the idea-he was barely home during the day with his work as it was, and it would be even worse if he took the job. But when she told him, he just...showed her the door. I ended up going with her. Since I ended up not going on my own adventure due to being cooped up in the Saffron City Gym getting used to my newly discovered Psychic powers, and wanted to go into a field not related to Pokemon, he probably thought I was a lost cause in regards to him anyway, _I shook my head to try and shake off some of the negative thoughts_._

_I can't believe he would just do that! _Theria growled, her fists bunched up and trembling in rage. _He would just abandon his own wife and child like that? _

I shrugged. _I'm not totally on Mom's side, either, although I'm personally more angry at Norman. Their relationship was originally a commuter one-it was Mom's decision to have a child and go for the whole domestic thing. I don't think Norman ever really got over her making that decision without him. _

_Even so-_Theria began heatedly, before I interrupted her by scratching her head.

_I appreciate you worrying about me, Theria. But don't worry too much, okay? It won't solve anything,_ I said. _Sometimes you just have to deal with it and try not to make the same mistakes as the last guy._

I could tell Theria wasn't really satisfied with leaving it at that, but she apparently was distracted enough by my scratching to put it aside for the moment. I chuckled fondly-with how zoned-out she was, I wouldn't have been surprised if I heard purring.

End Jan 5th Journal Entry

_Allan?_ Theria asked from her corner of pillow. The lights in the bunk room were out, and all that could be heard were the light snores of a couple of other trainers. Mudkip had decided to curl up on my stomach, this time. He was so light, I hardly felt him. I just hoped I didn't accidentally roll onto the tiny Pokemon in my sleep.

_Uh-huh?_

_Thanks... You know, for..._an image flashed through my mind of me giving her a hug earlier.

_Just be happy, okay? I'll try to help, _I replied, trying to inject some extra warmth in my words for her benefit.

She responded with the same content warmth right back. _Okay._


	5. January 6th

January 6th Journal Entry

I got myself in over my head again today. Although I was already in over my head. How about this: set Theria on my shoulders, and put it over _her_ head, 'cause we're in this together. Yeah, that'll work. It feels like things have been touch and go since late this morning. Here, I'll just dive right in and start at the beginning.

o-o-o

We woke up bright and early, eager to get on to Rustboro and the first Gym. After a quick trip to the Mart to gather up some supplies, we were off. Petalburg wasn't a very big city, but it had a pretty busy downtown. I was tempted to buy a bus ticket, but Theria wheedled me into walking the sidewalk. We took our time, with Theria pointing out things she found interesting or had questions about as she tried to connect the dots between the mental images she had from books and reality.

We were just getting to the edge of town when a foreigner wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses called out. "Hey! Excuse me!" He looked...Unovan, but it was a little hard to tell since I couldn't see his eyes. He looked excited as he walked over, looking at Kirlia, but as he got closer, his face fell. "Oh, oh I see. At first glance I thought you were a trainer, with that super-rare Pokemon at your side, but there's no dirt on your shoes and your skin isn't tanned at all."

"W-well, I actually just started the other day..." I said, a bit put-off by the man's abrupt appraisal. I spared a glance at myself: sneakers, blue jeans, and a blue zip-up collar sweatshirt-sure, it wasn't a fancy outfit like what May wore, but did I really look that much like a greenhorn? Yeah, my skin was a little bit fair, but that's what you get when you spend most of your time studying. I kept myself in shape, at least.

"Ah, I see," he said, his attention already floating off elsewhere. "I'm roaming the land looking for skilled up-and-coming trainers, you see. Sorry to have taken up your time."

Theria fumed as the man walked off. _He dismissed us just like that? The nerve!_

I motioned for us to start walking again. _Well, we're not exactly well-traveled yet... He was probably looking for trainers more at Norman's level, if he's prowling around Petalburg. Although why, I'll never guess. Maybe he's some kind of talent agent?_

_Probably a poser. Jerk._ Theria pouted. _Insulting MY trainer? He wouldn't know a good one if it walked right up to them and handed him their trainer card._

_We'll just have to prove ourselves by taking down a few Leaders, huh?_

_Now you have the right idea, _Theria clapped. _With my power, the Rustboro Gym will be child's play. _

That reminded me that I needed to do some reading up on the Gym to prepare. I took out the Pokedex and brought up the page for the Gym.

"Ding!" **Roxanne: "The Rock-loving Honor Student." Her main Pokemon for Gym matches is a Nosepass, but she trains a wide variety of Rock types. She is a recent graduate of the Rustboro Pokemon Trainer School, having set herself apart from the crowd of her fellow graduates early on with her sturdy grasp of Rock type-centric strategy. **

_So it's a Rock type Gym...all the more reason we should teach you Magical Leaf soon-a Grass type attack would do wonders for us, _I said.

Theria closed her eyes, deep in thought. She didn't seem to have any trouble navigating like that, I noticed. _I feel like I'm on the verge of understanding how to do it. There are two ways it could be done, I think. One, would be to form petal-shaped projectiles with Psychic energy, which would synthesise the cutting nature of Grass attacks, but that would take a lot of energy... The second would be to literally gather leaves from the landscape around us and augment them to be stronger and sharper. The latter would probably be the easiest, but we could use the former inside without any limitations other than my own strength... _

We decided we'd give the move a try the next time we ran into a trainer on the road. It might not work immediately, but we always had Confusion to fall back on.

Route 104 ran west until it hit a secluded stretch of beach, and then went north, following the coast. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity and walk down in the sand for a little while. Theria entertained herself with letting the water rush around her feet, and then Teleporting a few feet away when it got too cold. Which was pretty much right away.

_Brr! The sea is cold! _Theria stated matter-of-factly. Come to think of it, she probably hadn't had a chance to see the ocean before she was captured.

_Well, it _is _winter, you know, _I said, shivering at the sight. _You're going to catch a cold yourself if you keep doing that, you know..._

_Yes, Mom, _she replied.

_Don't you back-sass-oh my gosh, I really am turning into a mother hen,_ I said, rubbing my face. _Fine, catch cold-see if I care._

_You're still doing it~_

While we were there, we ran into another trainer, who we gladly challenged. He brought out a Taillow-a blue Flying type that looked small, but cut through the air effortlessly. While Theria tried to prepare the leaves for a Magical Leaf attack, the Taillow managed to get a couple solid Quick Attacks in that were enough to keep her from quite pulling it off, but not enough to do any real damage. We finally gave up and retaliated with a Confusion, knocking the Taillow out easily.

Going further down the beach, we got another opportunity to try and get the move down. This time it was a fisherman, who sent out a Magikarp.

"Seriously?" I asked him, pointing down at the Magikarp flopping helplessly on the ground in front of us.

He chuckled awkwardly, saying it had to get experience somehow.

_Filet o' fish?_

_That sounds delightful,_ Theria replied, generating the pure-energy petals a little bit faster behind her this time. Taking her sweet time, she summoned about six or seven of them, did a little pirouette to the side, and let them fly. They all hit their mark-not that it was a hard target to hit-and knocked the fish out without any trouble. We repeated the process with several more Magikarps as well, getting a little bit faster and more efficient each time. After a while, the fisherman just gave up even trying to get them to use Tackle-all they did was flop around, anyway. I thanked the guy a few times over for letting us use his Pokemon for target practice-it must really be demoralizing having to train one of those fish up from square one.

Not much farther along, just after passing a small beach house, the beach path ended and reconnected us with Route 104, and from there, we made quick time to the Petalburg Woods. This particular spot on the trail was an outcropping of the woods that surrounded Petalburg City on all sides-Route 104 just passed through the fringes of them. It was a pretty easy path to follow through, according to the map, but if we wandered off to the right, we could be lost for hours before we broke through the forest.

The tree cover thickened quickly, cutting out most of the midday light. The forest was silent-the ever-present winter breeze blocked out by the trees, leaving a cool stillness. It didn't last for very long, though.

My feet froze in place-an emotion was being broadcasted through the forest, making the hair on the back on my neck stand up. It was one I had felt just recently. It wasn't as strong as the last time, but I definitely felt it-

_You feel it, right, Allan? Fear,_ Theria said, confirming it for me.

_Yeah, someone's in trouble-let's go._

_Right!_ Theria and I traced the origin of it, and ran as fast as we could. It led us to a rougher-looking trail that was probably worn out of the forest floor by animals or Pokemon. After a minute or two of running, we got in range to hear voices.

"-ust hand over the package, or I'll pry it out of your hands after my Poochyena is through with you," said a woman wearing a blue bandanna and a black and white striped tee.

"No! I-I can't! Please don't eat me!" A man dressed like a salaryman squealed, curling himself around his package in the fetal position. If I wasn't currently facing down what was apparently a Team Aqua grunt, I'd be laughing at how ridiculous he looked.

"Great, another one to deal with? If you don't want your little ballerina thing to have a bite taken out of it, I'd suggest you get out and leave me to finish my business with that man over there," she said to us.

_Last chance. Magical Leaf is our only hope here, since I haven't been training Mudkip. Can you do it? _I asked, holding my stare on the Aqua grunt.

_Yes. I have all the ammo I'll ever need right here..._

_Perfect,_ I smirked, still staring down the grunt. _Do it, then._

"Grk," the Aqua grunt gritted out, breaking eye contact with me. "So you think you're the strong, silent type? With a girly little Pokemon like that? Heh, Poochyena will take you down with one Bite-go!"

But Theria was already moving. She dropped to her knees, pulling a veritable cloud of leaves out of the trees to float around us, and then sprang into the air, doing a pirouette, which sent the cloud of leaves whipping around the target in a gale that rapidly got tighter, doing more and more damage. After just a moment, she let the leaves fall-the Poochyena was unconscious, a few leaves still sticking painfully in its fur. I noticed a few of the leaves from the attack were actually rooted half-way into the ground.

_Hahaha! Flawless victory!_ Theria crooned. Magical Leaf was truly a fearsome attack in strong hands and when used in such a perfect situation. I figured there wouldn't be many opportunities to use it on this large a scale, but it was still impressive.

The Aqua grunt tried to edge back, her face still frozen in shock, but her foot got tripped up on some invisible obstacle and she fell flat on her backside.

_Ah ah ah~ _Theria chided. _Be a good wittle girl, no running now... I'm just a weak little "ballerina" that would never be able to keep up with a big, strong human like you, and I wouldn't want to be forced to hurt you... _she monologued, even though the woman couldn't hear her.

_Really. Don't hurt her-put her to sleep or something and we'll have the police pick her up._

_Oh, I won't _hurt _her, but I'll put her to sleep _my _way..._ Theria said, laughing that ominous laugh again.

"Wh-what? My feet feel like they're weighted down... M-my hands, it's like they're bound together! This is your doing, isn't it, you stupid little-hey! What are you-haha-grk! That tick-bwahahaha! Oh no-hahaha-please-haaaahaha! Tickles-haha-so-hahaha-much I can't brea-hahaha...haha..."

_Damn, Theria can be really scary when she wants to-_ I put the fading, desperate giggles out of my mind as best I could, going over to the slowly recovering salaryman. "Hey-are you alright?"

I offered the man my hand and helped him stand up.

"Thank you so much... You saved my skin from that lady, _and _from having to tell my boss I failed to deliver his package," he said, shaking my hand.

"Glad we could help," I replied. "How did you guys get so far off the trail, anyway?"

"Well...I was the one selected to deliver this package, and I was supposed to walk the Routes rather than take a car, because they wanted to keep this delivery low-profile. Why? I don't know-it's probably top secret anyway. But, well...I'm a big fan of the Pokemon Shroomish, and I thought while I was here I could look around just a liittle bit and see if I could find one," he said sheepishly. "But I guess I wandered straight into an ambush site Team Aqua had set up to catch me as I came through..."

"Seriously? Are things that bad right now-that the gangs are actually setting up ambushes on trainer routes?" That was a shock-I hadn't heard any news that suggested trainers were at any heightened danger lately.

"Team Aqua's focus right now is on Devon Corp, in particular, I think," the salaryman explained. "Right now, I think the Association wants to keep quiet about the Team's actual threat level while they investigate their activities. To avoid freaking out the public and all that, you know. But that means that we have to keep a low profile on whatever we do, since they seem so interested in our activities..."

"And you went searching for a Pokemon on your secret mission?" I asked dryly.

"I really like Shroomish-don't judge me!" the salaryman snapped. "I'm going to go straight there now, just you watch!"

I watched the man leave, heading back towards the main path-part of me wondered if it would really be okay to let him go on his own, but I dismissed it. Aqua wouldn't have set up two consecutive ambush points for one guy, who apparently had no Pokemon to defend himself him. I pulled out my phone and dialed the police, letting them know I had found a Team Aqua member unconscious in the Petalburg Woods. I declined to give my name and ended the call, and Theria and I made for the exit before they came to pick her up. Part of me already felt a little embarrassed for getting into another situation like this, and I didn't want to let it get back to Professor Birch. Or my Mom...uhg. At least we handled it well this time-and I didn't have to make Mudkip deal with it again.

On the trail just outside the woods, we discovered a flower shop that doubled as a scenic trainer stop year-round with a view of Lake Rustboro, which the Route cut through by way of a wooden bridge.

_Aww, it's a pity we couldn't have come here during the spring-the gardens look so drab and lifeless with everything frozen out like this,_ Theria said.

_Well, we can at least stop in and see if they have anything to eat..._ I said, my stomach growling.

_That sounds wonderful. But I am _not _having those PokePellets again. _

_Fine...if you're sure our human food won't hurt you in any way,_ I allowed.

Sure enough, the shop also had an organic deli. A blue-haired lady introduced herself as Nicole, and that she would be our server. I asked her what their options were for Pokemon food, and she proudly explained that everything they made was fit for both human and Pokemon consumption. Everything from salads with pan-seared tofu, and veggie burgers made fresh, to their specialty Oran Berry Pies. I wasn't even a health food nut, and it made my mouth water. I was about to order for the both of us, when Theria tapped one of the Pokeballs on my belt.

_I know Pokemon in stasis in their balls don't need to eat as often as one that stays out like myself, but wouldn't it be nice to all eat together? _Theria asked. _Mudkip hasn't been out at all since we left this morning..._

"Oh, that's right! Make that three of the salads, and a quarter slice of that berry pie for us to share," I told Nicole. After she left, I sighed to myself, unclipping Mudkip's ball from my belt and setting it on the table. To tell the truth, I had kind of forgotten about him. I didn't want to neglect him-not at all. But after everything I put him through a couple of days ago, I thought it would be best to give him some space to recover. But still-after putting him back in his ball when we left the Petalburg Center, I didn't take him back out again the rest of the morning. Sure, there was the whole confrontation with that Team Aqua grunt that I definitely wouldn't have wanted him to get into, but that was one episode that barely took fifteen minutes out of a long morning.

Theria was looking at me closely from where she sat, cross-legged, on the table. _...I can tell you aren't angry with him-benefits of being the Emotion Pokemon-so I have to wonder: why haven't you been using Mudkip lately? You haven't even let him out of his ball except at Pokemon Centers since we started our journey. _

_Not all Pokemon dislike being in their Pokeballs as much as you, _I evaded.

_True, but I doubt Mudkip has spent very much time outside of the lab-wouldn't it enjoy seeing the sights a little bit too?_ Theria said reasonably.

_We just seem to be running into so many dangerous situations-I don't want the little guy to get hurt._ Not entirely true, but closer.

Theria smirked. _But it's okay to leave me out and let me handle them when they come up?_

I walked right into that one. I had to admit-she was good. I sighed in defeat. _Alright, you win. I should have let him out this morning. But I don't want you to think I value your safety any less than his, you know. You just seemed better equipped to deal with it this time, and I didn't have much of a chance to think things through before hand..._

_Of course-it was in the heat of the moment, and I wanted to help that man as much as you did. I can't stand by and let bullies like that Aqua woman run roughshod like that, _Theria said. _You can be assured I will make it clear if you get me into a situation I am not comfortable with. I think, however, that I had this particular situation well enough in hand..._

_Very true-your Magical Leaf was devastating,_ I complimented. Nicole came back around with our food, and I let out Mudkip so he could enjoy it with us. He audibly gasped in joy at the sight of all the food, diving face-first into his plate. _You're never going to be powerless against a Dark type again. _

_Indeed!_ Theria said proudly, picking up a veggie burger that was about the size of her head and trying to take a bite out of it. _Ahh, real food, how I missed you..._

_You both eat like, well, animals, _I chuckled.

_Don't think-_"Urk, glub-" Theria's thought was interrupted as she tried to struggle down a particularly large bite.

_Smaller bites. Chew,_ I said, chuckling silently.

_Don't think I didn't notice how you wiggled out of our conversation without fully explaining yourself. We hardly planned to meet Team Aqua on the road today, but you still didn't take Mudkip out all morning. _

_I'll let him walk outside the rest of the day, okay? _I said.

_...Fine-if you don't want to talk to your own teammate, so be it, _Theria sniffed, nose in the air, still not pleased with my answer. She tried to keep her nose in the air and eat at the same time, but all that resulted in was the burger patty slipping out to flop onto her face with a juicy splat.

I doubled over laughing, while Theria mentally cursed so powerfully I was amazed the other patrons hadn't somehow heard. Mudkip merely blinked at us confusedly, half way into a bite of salad.

o-o-o

_Shut up. _It was safe to say Theria was still a little bit ticked off when we finally got back on the road.

Beside us lay Lake Rustboro, glittering a frigid blue in the midday winter sun. Kirlia walked briskly ahead of me on the path, sending out a steady pulse of annoyance and, probably unintentionally, embarrassment. Mudkip kept a more regular pace beside me, but down in the marshy water at the edge of the lake. He apparently didn't mind the cold one bit, happily alternating between paddling and stomping through the mud.

_Didn't say anything~ _I said.

_I can tell how smug you are..._ She trailed off into dark muttering that I tried to tune out.

_You're just cute when you're embarrassed._

_Oh, why thank you, I feel so very special._

"Um-"

_I was being honest, really! _I insisted.

"Excuse..."

_Sure you were._

_You're just too difficult-_

"EXCUSE ME!" A young girl's voice shouted.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there..." I said. I looked around, realizing Theria and I had already made it halfway across the wooden bridge that spanned the lake. Theria glanced at me sheepishly.

"FINALLY got your attention. Man, what a space cadet," the girl said exasperatedly. She was about waist-height, and she had a twin sister behind her in almost the exact same outfit.

"Sorry, again-was there something you two needed?"

"We. Wanted. To. Have a Pokemon battle!" She enunciated.

"...A double battle," her apparently more soft-spoken twin clarified, holding up a her own Pokeball.

"Those two Pokemon you're with ARE yours, right?" The louder one asked slowly.

"Um, yeah," I said. A double battle... I forgot they'd started officially sanctioning those recently. "I'd love to, but Mudkip-" I looked over to where he was paddling nearby in the smooth waters of the lake. "-Isn't really a fighter..."

"Oh..." They both groaned.

Theria groaned right along with them. _Why are you excluding him? Are you trying to punish him?_

_No! Why would you think that? I'm just giving him a chance to rest and-_

_He's perfectly rested,_ Theria said firmly. _That incident in the forest was a billion years ago for him. Sure, it was scary for him, but he did what you told him to do-_

_And I shouldn't have told him to-_

_Maybe, maybe not! At least you were ordering him to help people, and not slaughter innocent people for your own amusement! _

That made me fall silent.

_I know you want to protect him, Allan, and I admire you for it,_ Theria said. _I can feel how much you care for both of us. But what would you do? Hide him away where he'd never be at risk-never have to fight for something? Never get to experience the excitement of being on a journey alongside his friends?_

It doesn't take a Psychic to catch the personal meaning behind her words.

_We're _your _Pokemon, Allan. We'll happily follow your orders into whatever situation we find ourselves in. Because that's what we were meant to do._

She always freaks me out a little when she gets like this. She uses such human words to say things that...definitely aren't human. Knowing what I know now, the abuse gangs heap on a species that is literally hard-wired to love-or at least obey-its masters becomes even more unforgivable.

"On second thought, yeah, we will fight," I said, looking back at the girls, who were looking at me like I was crazy. I really should stop having extended mental conversations with my Pokemon in front of random people.

"Oh Ehm Gee, Mia, I think this guy has a brain defect. Let's go before he infects us with his stupid," the louder girl said to her sister, grabbing her hand and trying to drag her away.

"W-wait, Ginaa," Mia said, pulling her hand free. She looked down at her feet. "D-did your Pokemon say it was okay to fight?"

"W-wha-I don't know what you're..." Uhg. The quiet one is sharp. "S-something like that...yeah..." I admitted.

"If they don't mind, then...I'd actually like to... Gina...?" Mia looked over at her sister.

"Huuh? Oh, fine..." She tossed her Pokeball unenthusiastically. "Lotad, go..."

"Come out...Seedot..." Mia said.

And with that, the battle began.

_Confusion on the Seedot,_ I told Theria. _Mudkip-Water Gun on the Lotad. _

"Bide, Seedot..." Mia said.

"He's not even commanding his Pokemon-" Gina grumbled, cut off as Mudkip's attack drilled into her Pokemon. Kirlia's Confusion hit Seedot at the same time, the Psychic waves warping the air around it.

"Wh-what the heck?" Gina exclaimed. "They're just attacking on their own?"

"Sis! Help..." Mia's Seedot was in dire condition, struggling just to keep its round body upright. Gina's Lotad, however, had taken the Water Gun like it was nothing.

_Theria, finish Seedot off with a Confu-_

"Water Gun on that Kirlia!"

"Lo!" Lotad shouted, blasting Theria head-on before either of us could react.

_No wonder it took Mudkip's attack so easily-it must be part Water. I thought it was Grass... _I said.

With considerable struggle, Theria managed to psychically deflect the brunt of the Water Gun around her, although Lotad wasn't letting up at all. _It...uhg...wouldn't have been very effective against Grass, either, Allan..._

_Oh... _Oops.

_If we don't...do something quick...that Bide is going to seriously hurt, Allan... It absorbs the energy of attacks and redirects it back..._

_Mudkip! Get Lotad off Theria's back with a Tackle, quick!_

Mudkip lunged and managed to knock Lotad away, but we weren't fast enough. Their stalling strategy worked. The Water Gun was disrupted only for Seedot to charge into Theria with all the force of her Confusion behind it and more, knocking them both off the boardwalk and under the surface of the lake.

"T-Theria!" I exclaimed. _M-mudkip... Finish off Lotad, and then help Kirlia!_

Mudkip hit the dazed Lotad with another Tackle, knocking it into the water as well. Its leaf bobbed at the surface, floating limply in the water. He turned to the other side of the boardwalk, where Theria had been knocked off. He was about to jump in after the two of them, when the water broiled and Seedot rose to the surface. And kept going- slowly, ponderously, a blue light tinging the air around it.

_...Eleftheria?_

_Confusion?_

..._Sure._

The Seedot fainted under the second onslaught, and Theria levitated herself out of the water, looking a little battered, but none the worse for wear.

_That was a delightful strategy on their part-even had me worried for a moment-but a Bide with only one attack behind it like that from a weaker Pokemon is not enough to take me down, _Theria smugly explained to me as she set Seedot down at its trainer's feet.

_I'm just glad you're okay, _I sighed in relief. _Wasn't sure there for a sec._

_Naturally,_ Theria said, blushing a bit nevertheless.

Mudkip trotted over to us, a pleased look on his face. Or was that how he always looked?

_You both did great, _I said, patting them both on the head. They seemed to appreciate it, although Theria grumbled a bit for appearance's sake.

"T-that spacy weirdo...BEAT us? How did you DO that?" Gina sputtered.

"Your strategy was really good, though," I said. "Distracting Theria and drawing her fire off Seedot while it prepared such a powerful attack was amazing."

"Humph," Gina said, not unlike Theria was known to.

Mia scooped up her Pokemon and walked up to me. _Uhg. Not again._ She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"G-good game... It w-was fun..." She said, a small smile breaking through despite the tears. "You were amazing, Theria. Y-you too, Mudkip..."

"'kip!"

She jumped as Gina's hand fell heavily on her head.

"This one might look like a big cry baby, but she was actually the one to get me into Pokemon. She has this harebrained idea in her head that we're going to beat Roxanne together..." She said, trying her best to look disinterested.

"With smart strategies like that, and how good your Pokemon already are, I bet you'll be able to beat it in no time," I said, with a hearty head-nod from Theria as well. "We're actually planning to take her on too."

"Hmph! Like I needed you to tell me that," Gina hmphed. Corrected-she's worse than Theria ever is. That's saying something.

"I bet you guys will do great," Mia said, her tears finally drying up. "Let's meet again when we're all Masters, okay?" She really was an amazing kid.

o-o-o

After saying goodbye to the twins, the rest of our walk to the Rustboro City limits was pretty uneventful. We got into a few more trainer battles, but Theria easily cleaned up what Mudkip couldn't.

Theria was right-Arceus, I hope she isn't reading over my shoulder right now-I really was making a mistake hiding Mudkip away like I was doing. He took to battling surprisingly quickly. I would have thought that the little guy would get stressed out with all the fighting-his naive personality didn't seem well-suited for that type of thing. But he's a lot hardier than I ever expected. I'm still pretty quick to draw him out if it looks too tough, but he's taken a few solid hits today and still seems willing to fight. If I was him, I'd have tired out a long time ago. It really shows how different Pokemon are from us. They have a willingness-almost a drive-to serve, that humans would never be able to match. They throw themselves into battles involving forces that I can only call magical, that humans wouldn't dare to.

Of course, they also seem to be built tougher than us as well. Perhaps a product of their supernatural abilities, they can also take hits that would hospitalize us humans. Where that hit in the battle with the twins that Theria took might have cracked my ribs, it only winded her for a moment and left a bit of a bruise. When I worried over it to her a bit too much afterward, she explained that her species doesn't bleed very much, due to how much her Psychic powers actually run the basic functions of her body. In battle, it can go so far as re-directing the flow of blood away from or around the site of an injury to avoid blood loss. Their flexible bodies also allow them to take a lot more short-term stress than many other Pokemon, although their bones can't hold out under more prolonged duress. She was surprised when she saw I was grossed out by all of this stuff. Never change, Theria.

Anyway, enough about bizarre Pokemon biology. We finally made it to Rustboro by mid-afternoon. It really puts Petalburg to shame in terms of size-apartment complexes and business buildings tower overhead, and there were so many people bustling through the streets that I had to recall Mudkip and put Theria up on my shoulder to keep her from being accidentally trampled.

_It's amazing here-so many humans milling about!-but it's a little bit intimidating. All those books that mentioned the "hustle and bustle" of the city didn't really do it justice,_ Theria commented as we walked, her gaze torn between the crowds milling around us- so intent on where they were going they barely spared a glance at the boy and his Shiny-and the towering peaks above us.

"Uhrg," I grunted as a spot in my head twinged in pain.

_What's wrong, Allan? _Theria asked.

_Oh, it's nothing, really... _I said, kneading my now-pounding forehead. _Bit of a headache. Always get 'em when I transition into busy places like this._

_Oh, my... It must have been terrible living in a big city growing up..._

_Not as bad as you think... _I replied, even though it amplified the pounding. _I'd never experienced anything like it until I got back from my time at Sabrina's Gym. Something about that building drowns out all of the noise from the outside world...because when I went back home I had a splitting headache for a few days before I readjusted. _

_So, it'll go away soon? _She asked, still sounding worried.

_Yeah-I think it's already starting to die down... _I said. _Just have to try and tune out all the buzz of emotions everyone's sending out._

_Come to think of it, I've never had a reaction like that, although my powers should be much stronger than yours... Perhaps it's just a benefit of my greater control as a Psychic type... _Theria mused.

_Lucky._

_Heh. Sorry-didn't intend to rub it in,_ she said.

While it was hectic and crazy like any other city before it, it did have one thing going for it: it was a lot warmer than any other city I'd ever been in. Rather than being a jungle of cold concrete trees towering over an asphalt landscape, it was a fairly warm and inviting "old-town" kind of place-although most of the construction couldn't have been more than ten or fifteen years old. The streets were paved with tightly fitted earth-yellow bricks, and the buildings around us were built with a similar kind of stone, the colors varying from rusty red to brownish coffee. The architecture along with the earthy color palette combined to make a refreshingly warm-feeling city, which is a breath of fresh air for a kid who lived in cold, industrial Saffron (between my parents' apartment and the Gym) all his life.

It was late enough in the day and we'd been through enough battles already that we decided to save tackling the Gym for tomorrow, so we agreed we would just wander aimlessly until it was time to head to the Pokemon Center for the night.

We were walking up the main thoroughfare in town, gawking at items in the shop fronts, when we heard a familiar voice.

"Hey you two! I was hoping we'd run into each other again!"

I looked around, but I couldn't zero in on where the voice was coming from. Theria pointed up above our heads. Sure enough-there was May, sitting on the back of a giant Bird type.

"Uh, wow," I said. "You have a Pelipper..."

"Yeah! Why? You have a weird look on your face," she asked, the bird fluttering closer to the ground so she could hop off.

"Just...thinking about how terrifying it would be to fly around on a Pokemon's back," I replied. Man-I know plenty of trainers ride their Pokemon like that, but you could never get me to do that. I'm not particularly scared of heights, I'd say-just scared of riding a bird unsecured hundreds of feet above the ground.

_That's no way for a future Pokemon Master to be, Allan, _Theria admonished. _Your Pokemon would definitely keep you safe. Honestly... The thought that it would drop you..._

May burst out laughing. "Ahahaha-Elle's scolding you, isn't she? She's wagging her finger at you like my Mom does when I track dirt into the house."

"Heh, pretty much," I said.

_Hey-I'm not a mother hen like you are. I'm merely instructing you on the proper conduct a Master-to-be must exhibit._

_So, basically being a nag?_

_Ye-no! Hmph! _

"I don't even need to know what you're saying to see what a good pair you two make..." May said.

Theria put her nose into the air, grinning with pride. _So she can appreciate what a wonderful team we make-_

"...As a walking comedy routine," she finished.

_Uhg, _Theria groaned, pride shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Oh man, Elle..." May giggled. "It is SO fun to mess with you. All your little expressions are so adorable!"

"So-what brings you to Rustboro, May?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track.

"Oh yeah. I'm here making a delivery for Dad to the Devon Corp HQ. We do some contract work on the side for private companies, and he wanted me to hand-deliver some climate data they requested," May explained. "I'm not a big fan of doing delivery work, but I was kinda hoping I'd get to run into you guys while I was here."

_Well, that's surprisingly nice-_

"I wanted to see how much progress you guys made!"

_Ooof course, _I internally sighed.

"So? Did you catch any new Pokemon?" She asked expectantly.

"Unfortunately, no. But Mudkip and I are all Allan needs...so she says." Theria nodded proudly.

May "tutt tutt"-ed in disappointment. "Allan, Allan... I know you're a late bloomer, but are you really taking this seriously?"

"Well, I-"

"I'll have to knock some sense into you with a battle," she said resolutely.

I figured it would come to this, knowing her. We decided to walk over to a nearby park where we could have a battle without disrupting traffic. Once we were there, we took our places on opposite ends of the patch of grass.

May tossed a pokeball, revealing Torchic once again.

"Alright, here's how it's gonna be," May said authoritatively. "Allan: you will send out Theria AND Mudkip, against my Torchic alone. He's strong enough to _just_ beat Roxanne. If you can somehow take him down between the two of you, then I'll admit you're doing pretty well so far."

_"And if we lose?" _Theria and I prompted in unison, looking away from each other awkwardly.

"I lead you by the hand like a good big sis and teach you how to catch Pokemon, being sure not to use words that are too big for your wittle developing brain," she replied.

_Ah, so that's what real pre-battle trash-talk is like..._ Theria said in mild awe.

"Oh it's on now," I said, unhooking Mudkip's ball from my belt.

"A slowpoke could think of a better comeback than that!"

"I let my actions speak for me-Water Gun!" _Stay back, Theria, and use Confusion to disrupt its movements._

_Doesn't this feel a little cheap, Allan? _She asked, using Confusion to trap Torchic in place for a moment so Mudkip could hit it with Water Gun. It snapped out of her hold on it after just a few seconds, but not fast enough to get away from Mudkip's attack. _We have a clear advantage-_

The stream of water pushed the tiny bird into a comical backwards roll, flipping it backwards a few times before it got its talons rooted into the ground. Other than being buffeted for a moment, it look none the worse for wear.

"Strafe around with a Quick Attack!"

_I wouldn't count my chickens just yet-_I told her, getting a mental groan from her in return at my unintentional pun-just _keep slowing it down as much as you can._

_Uhg, fine. ...This may be tougher than I expected. _

_Well, it's only natural, since he can apparently take down a whole Gym that's even type resistant to him. _I replied. We were keeping Torchic back so far-once or twice it almost zig-zagged in close enough that its embers licked at Mudkip's feet, but then Theria would stop him in his tracks and Mudkip would knock him back again.

"You guys are doing great!" May applauded. "But do you think you'll be able to win by just wearing us down gradually like this? Your Mudkip's holding Torchic off, but he's nowhere near strong enough to really hurt him. I really don't think you'll be able to do any serious damage without having 'Elle attack..."

_But if she uses Confusion to attack, she won't be able to take him down in the first hit, and he'll be able to move in on Mudkip..._

_...And if you recall Mudkip to get him out of the line of fire, League rules state you can't send him back out for another three minutes, leaving me exposed, _Theria finished grimly.

_Our options look pretty limited, _I admitted.

Theria held Torchic back with another Confusion. _Well, maybe if I somehow-_

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled at a sensation I'd already felt once earlier today. Theria sensed it as well, taking her attention from the battle and Teleporting to my side. I barely noticed her presence, my eyes already frantically scanning the park in the direction of the sensation as my hand fumbled to get Mudkip's Pokeball off my belt. "Damn it, I don't see-" I didn't see who the fear came from, but I did see what it was connected to-a blue hoodie pushing roughly through the crowds outside of the park.

Theria had already noticed. _Blue hoodie. He's out of sight already, but I can still sense him._

"Wh-what's up guys?" I barely caught May's voice from behind us.

_I can too,_ I said, recalling Mudkip as I began a brisk jog towards the park gate. _We've gotta follow him-no one else'll be able to track him through those crowds._

_Agreed, _Theria said, hopping up to sit on my shoulder.

_The crowds will be tough-_

_Leave that to me, _Theria said confidently.

_...Sure, _I said, not sparing the focus to wonder how exactly she would handle it.

Come to think of it, I thought I heard May's voice behind us as I started running, but I was too far out of range to hear her.

o-o-o

So, as I explained a few days ago, I track things (and other people) by the emotions people strongly associate with it. So, I found it ironically funny that I seemed to be running _towards _an awful lot of "feared" things lately.

As I left the park, I immediately got to see what Theria's idea of handling the crowds was. She wasn't pushing them _over_ per se, but the crowds did part conveniently in front of me as I ran. I felt a little like a modern Moses parting the sea, or like I was drafting behind a very slow race car, as the crowds split in front of me and then closed back up like normal again behind. I only noticed a few people fall completely onto their backsides or slam into each other through the whole chase, which is...probably...an acceptable casualty.

We tracked him all the way to the northern edge of town, right where Route 115 began, before we caught up to him. He was waiting for us-probably having seen Theria bobbing above everyone's head as we ran. Or having heard all the angry shouts of people getting Psychically pushed around.

He sent out a Wingull-the pre-evolved form of Pelipper-before we got too close, but instead of attacking us like he'd obviously intended, it turned and started spraying him with a Water Gun. He hit the ground with a water-muffled curse and scrabbled at his belt for his other Pokeballs, but Theria pinned him to the ground with her Confusion before he could send any others out.

The Wingull turned to us and chirped gratefully, fluttering near to Theria. I set her down to give the two a chance to talk, and walked over to the pinned-down Aqua grunt to pick up the package that lay beside him. It was just a simple cardboard box, but I had a sinking suspicion it was the same package that Devon Corp worker was delivering.

_Never should have let him go on his own, _I thought to myself.

The Wingull chirped happily to Theria and flew over to its discarded ball, picking it up in its talons and flying away.

_Let me guess,_ Theria said, still holding the grunt down, _the Devon Corp guy was the one that got mugged? _

_Probably... _I said. _Hey, is that Wingull going to be okay on its own? _

_I think so, now. Apparently her master lives by the ocean a ways south of town, and this delinquent kidnapped her earlier today. _

_So, not long enough for her to be rebonded or something? _I asked tentatively.

_Seemingly, _Theria confirmed. _Although even if the change only just occurred, it can still be difficult to ignore the order of the one who released us from our ball. That just shows how strong her current bond was, that she could overcome him and go so far as to attack him... _She looked down, her currently blue-tinged eyes making her glasses glint. _I wish I could have been as strong._

Holding the box to my side, I padded back over to her and set a hand on her head. I couldn't think of anything to say other than platitudes, so I settled on just stroking her hair, only stopping long enough to dial the police for the second time that day.

o-o-o

As much as I wanted to avoid undue attention from the authorities, given the anomalous Telepathic link Theria and I share, it was unavoidable this time. I give Theria points for trying the tickle-submission again, but she was far too tired for the level of control it took. She was so tired by the time the police came that I was hovering half-over the grunt just in case her focus slipped. It was all she could do to move his wrists in place for the policewoman to snap the handcuffs on before she collapsed in exhaustion.

I managed to get over and scoop her up before another police officer came up to me, this one with a notepad. Apparently the authorities were curious about the identity of the person who had captured two gang members in one day.

_Heh, we're getting good at this, huh? _Theria said weakly from her place in my arms.

_I don't even want to think about it right now, _I said darkly.

_Somehow...I don't think these guys are going to afford you that luxury, _she said through a yawn.

Most of their questions were about how I got involved in the situations, and just general questions about the situations themselves. I tried to answer everything as best as I could, while still leaving out how my Psychic powers played into things. Not that it would have gotten me into trouble, it just would have needlessly complicated things at the moment.

They finally let me go with a warning to be safe and to leave crime fighting to the police-which was totally helpful when crimes are underway and the police are minutes away; also promising they would deliver the package and make sure the Devon worker was all right.

When we got to the Pokemon Center, May was waiting just inside the doors impatiently.

"There you guys are! What the heck were you doing, running off like that? Oh my gosh, is Theria all right? You could have at least told me what was going on-"

"Sorry May," I said. "Theria and I sensed something happen outside of the park, and we thought we needed to check it out. Theria's fine, she's just worn out."

"By the time I tried to follow you guys on Pelipper, you were already out of sight..." May said frustratedly. "What happened that was so bad you guys couldn't bother to stop and tell me?"

"Well... A Team Aqua member may have mugged someone in the street..."

"W-what?" May asked. "...And you both respond by running after him?"

"We...figured there was no other way," I explained sheepishly.

May rubbed her forehead exasperatedly. "Oh brother. So that night a few days ago wasn't a fluke. You really are an idiot!"

_She doesn't even know he was the second goon we chased down today... _Theria mumbled sleepily.

_She doesn't need to, _I said firmly.

_Wha-yawn-atever..._

"Hey! I did save your Dad, you know..." I reminded her belatedly.

"Thanks for that! I appreciate it," May said dryly. "What neither him nor I appreciate, however, is you putting yourself in harm's way like that. Just because you can help doesn't mean you should-sometimes it's better left for the police, you know?"

"I know...sorry to run off like that," I said, doing a short bow to emphasize my contriteness. "We'll both try to be more careful."

May nodded, smiling slightly. "That's good enough for me. Thanks again, by the way, for saving my Dad. He was so excited about finding a Shiny, he didn't even mention he'd been kidnapped to me until I saw the police come by to get a statement from him!"

"That definitely sounds like him, alright," I chuckled.

End January 6th Journal Entry

After saying our goodnights and heading to our respective bunk rooms, I tucked Theria into a bed and crawled in as well. I scribbled down as much as I could for the day's journal entry, but sleep's call was too tempting to resist for long. I hadn't been fighting all day like Theria, but all of the day's events had worn me down. I was asleep minutes after my head hit the pillow.


End file.
